Testament of Joseph 3

¹How often did the Egyptian woman threaten me with death! How often did she give me over to punishment, ²and then call me back and threaten me, and when I was unwilling to company with her, she said to me: Thou shalt be lord of me, and all that is in my house, if thou wilt give thyself unto me, and thou shalt be as our master. ³But I remembered the words of my father, and going into my chamber, I wept and prayed unto the Lord. ⁴And I fasted in those seven years, and I appeared to the Egyptians as one living delicately, for they that fast for God's sake receive beauty of face. ⁵And if my lord were away from home, I drank no wine; nor for three days did I take my food, but I gave it to the poor and sick. ⁶And I sought the Lord early, and I wept for the Egyptian woman of Memphis, for very unceasingly did she trouble me, for also at night she came to me under pretence of visiting me. ⁷And because she had no male child she pretended to regard me as a son, and so I prayed to the Lord, and she bare a male child. ⁸And for a time she embraced me as a son, and I knew it not; but later, she sought to draw me into fornication. ⁹And when I perceived it I sorrowed unto death; and when she had gone out, I came to myself, and lamented for her many days, because I recognized her guile and her deceit. ¹⁰And I declared unto her the words of the Most High, if haply she would turn from her evil lust.