¹⁸ And they saw him afar off, and before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. ¹⁹ And they said one to another, Behold, this ^[a]dreamer cometh. ²⁰ Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. ²¹ And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life. ²² And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. ²³ And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him, and cast him into the pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

²⁵ And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ^[b]spicery and ^[c]balm and ^[d]myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶ And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened unto him. ²⁸ And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. ³⁰ And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? ³¹ And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood; ³² and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This have we found: know now whether it is thy son’s coat or not. ³³ And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces. ³⁴ And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him. ³⁶ And the ^[e]Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the ^[f]captain of the guard.