¹⁸ Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, ^(A)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ Then they said to one another, “Look, this ^[a]dreamer is coming! ^20 (B)Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

²¹ But ^(C)Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” ²² And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.

²³ So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they ^(D)stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. ²⁴ Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

^25 (E)And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of ^(F)Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, ^(G)balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. ²⁶ So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and ^(H)conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(I)let not our hand be upon him, for he is ^(J)our brother and ^(K)our flesh.” And his brothers listened. ²⁸ Then ^(L)Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, ^(M)and sold him to the Ishmaelites for ^(N)twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.