Again, she sent him a dish prepared with magic spells, by
means of which she hoped to get him into her power. But
when the eunuch set it before him, he saw the image of a
man handing him a sword together with the dish, and,
warned by the vision, he took good care not to taste of the
food. A few days later his mistress came to him, and asked
him why he had not eaten of what she had sent him. He reproached
her, saying, "How couldst thou tell me, I do not
come nigh unto the idols, but only unto the Lord? The God
of my fathers hath revealed thy iniquity to me through an
angel, but that thou mayest know that the malice of the
wicked has no power over those who fear God in purity, I
shall eat thy food before thine eyes, and the God of my
fathers and the angel of Abraham will be with me." The
wife of Potiphar fell upon her face at the feet of Joseph, and
amid tears she promised not to commit this sin again.

But her unholy passion for Joseph did not depart from
her, and her distress over her unfulfilled wish made her look
so ill that her husband said to her, "Why is thy countenance
fallen?" And she replied, "I have a pain at my heart, and
the groanings of my spirit oppress me."

Once when she was alone with Joseph, she rushed toward
him, crying, "I will throttle myself, or I will jump into a well
or a pit, if thou wilt not yield thyself to me." Noticing her
extreme agitation, Joseph endeavored to calm her with these
words, "Remember, if thou makest away with thyself, thy
husband's concubine, Asteho, thy rival, will maltreat thy
children, and extirpate thy memory from the earth." These