When his master heard the words … wife spoke to him: the narrator keeps our attention on Joseph by speaking of his master. It may be clearer to say “When Joseph’s master heard….”

This is the way your servant treated me is placed between quotes in Revised Standard Version. The quoted material has not appeared in the retelling of the incident to the husband. It is better, therefore, to avoid the use of quotes and to say, for example, “When Joseph’s master heard his wife tell how Joseph had treated her, he became angry.” Note that Good News Translation has severely shortened verse 19.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .