Aseneth’s Prayer of Confession

After marrying Joseph and bearing two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, Aseneth offers a prayer that recalls her idolatrous origins and her attachment to Joseph, which led her to God. Aseneth’s prayer is heavily penitential in its language and style, including the refrain, which resembles a dirge. She confesses to having been a “boastful and arrogant virgin,” too proud to accept any of her suitors, until she was finally humbled by her passion for Joseph’s beauty, wisdom, and spirit. The trope of a proud woman who refuses her suitors being humbled and overcome by passionate love is common in folktales.