Apocrypha
Joseph and Asenath
Jewish Romance
29 chapters · read and listen
Reading note
How the Egyptian Aseneth converts and marries Joseph: an ancient novella with bees, honeycomb and an angel who looks just like him.
Chapters
Dossier
The romance that solves a problem left by Genesis: how did Joseph the Hebrew come to marry the daughter of an Egyptian priest? Here, Asenath converts first — and her conversion takes up the whole book.
Where this text comes from
Greek, estimated between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, probably from Greek-speaking Judaism in Egypt. It survives in Greek, Syriac, Armenian, Latin and Slavonic, in long and short recensions.
Why it is not in the Bible
Never canonical. It is an edifying romance, a popular genre in antiquity, and was always read as such.
What you will find
- Asenath destroys her own idols and throws the palace food out of the window before seven days of repentance.
- The scene of the honeycomb brought by a heavenly man, and the bees that come out of it and surround her without stinging.
- The second half turns into a thriller: Pharaoh's son plots to abduct her, and Joseph's brothers divide.
- It is one of the few ancient texts in which the protagonist is a woman and the plot is her decision.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Joseph and Asenath in the Bible?
- No. Genesis mentions in a single line that Joseph married Asenath, daughter of Potiphera. Everything else is the work of this later romance.