18 And they saw him from afar off, and before he came near them, they plotted against him, that they might kill him.

19 And they said to one another, 'Behold, a dreamer is coming;

20 Let us go now and kill him, and cast him into a pit, and say that a beast of prey has eaten him. and we will see what will come out of his dreams.

21 And Reuben heard this, and delivered him out of their hands, saying, 'We will not kill him.'

22 And Reuben said to them, 'Do not shed blood; cast him into the pit that is in the wilderness, and do not lay your hands on him. This is the speech of Elon [with the intention] of delivering him out of their hands and bringing him back to his father.

23 And when Joseph came to his brethren, they stripped Joseph of his garments, the garments of many colors which he was wearing,

24 And they took him, and cast him into the pit; but that ditch was empty; There was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat bread, and looking, they saw, behold, a caravan of the Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, and their camels were carrying styrax, balm, and frankincense, and they were going to take it to Egypt.

26 And Judah said to his brethren, 'What shall it profit us if we kill our brother, and hide his blood?'

27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hands be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh. His brothers obeyed him

28 And as the merchants of Midian were passing by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they took Joseph into Egypt.

29 And Reuben came again to the pit; and behold, Joseph is not in the pit. And he tore his garments;

30 And he returned to his brethren, and said, 'The lad is gone, but I, where shall I go?'

31 And they took Joseph's garments, and slaughtered the goat, and stained the garments with blood;