Cast her eyes upon Joseph is literally “lifted up her eyes at Joseph.” Potiphar’s wife is not pictured in this story as being in a harem, and no other wife is mentioned. She appears to be free to do as she pleases. The servants of the household would be expected to avoid eye contact with their master’s wife. She, however, does not appear to be under any similar restriction. She has had time to observe Joseph and, as Good News Translation says, she “began to desire Joseph.” Revised English Bible says she “became infatuated,” New American Bible “began to look fondly at.” All of these are adequate models. In some languages there are idiomatic ways of talking about how men and women look at each other; one example in this context is “she had desirous eyes for Joseph.”

Lie with me: we must remember that the woman is speaking to a foreign slave whom her husband has purchased. She is in a position to order him to do anything she wants. In translation the expression should be a command to have sexual relations, but may need to be expressed in an indirect way, as it is in the Hebrew and Revised Standard Version. Revised English Bible says it well in English: “Come, make love to me.”

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 .