Genesis 37:20–29

²⁰“Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and ^awe will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹But ^aReuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not ¹take his life.”

²²Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father.

²³So it came about, when Joseph ¹reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his ²tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;

²⁴and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵Then they sat down to eat ¹a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of ^aIshmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ^2baromatic gum and ^3cbalm and ⁴myrrh, ⁵on their way to bring them down to Egypt.

²⁶Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and ^acover up his blood?

²⁷“^aCome and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.

²⁸Then some ^aMidianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and ^bsold ¹him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus ^cthey brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^atore his garments.