Asenath

Asenath is a figure in the Hebrew Bible, identified as the wife of Joseph and the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, in Egypt. She is mentioned in the Genesis narrative during Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and is recorded as the mother of his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

In the biblical account, Asenath bears Joseph two sons while he is in Egypt before the famine ends. Joseph names the firstborn Manasseh, saying that God has made him forget his hardship and his father’s house, and he names the second Ephraim, saying that God has made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. Jacob later blesses Joseph’s two sons, adopting them as his own and giving Ephraim a blessing that places him before Manasseh in prophetic status, a reversal that carries lasting significance for the formation of the Israelite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

The origin and meaning of the name Asenath are uncertain. The name is generally treated as of Egyptian origin or influence, and it appears in the Masoretic Text with variant spellings such as Asenath or Aseneth. Scholarly and traditional sources offer no consensus on a definite etymology.

In traditional Jewish, Christian, and later literary contexts, Asenath remains a comparatively minor figure, whose principal role is as Joseph’s wife and the mother of two tribes’ eponymous founders. The name has occasionally been used in modern times as a given name, often referencing the biblical figure.