¹² Then his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³ And Israel said to Joseph, “Are your brothers not pasturing the flock in ^(A)Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “^[a]I will go.” ¹⁴ Then he said to him, “Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of ^(B)Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

¹⁵ A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, “^[b]What are you looking for?” ¹⁶ He said, “I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.” ¹⁷ Then the man said, “They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to ^(C)Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

The Plot against Joseph

^18 [c]When they saw him from a distance, and before he came closer to them, they ^(D)plotted against him to put him to death. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “^[d]Here comes this dreamer! ²⁰ Now then, come and let’s kill him, and throw him into one of the pits; and ^(E)we will say, ‘A vicious animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams!” ²¹ But ^(F)Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands ^[e]by saying, “Let’s not ^[f]take his life.” ²² Then Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—so that later he might rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father. ²³ So it came about, when Joseph ^[g]reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the ^[h]multicolored tunic that was on him; ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat ^[i]a meal. But as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of ^(G)Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying ^(H)labdanum resin, ^(I)balsam, and ^[j]myrrh, ^[k]on their way to bring them down to Egypt. ²⁶ And Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and ^(J)cover up his blood? ^27 (K)Come, and let’s 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. ²⁸ Then some ^(L)Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and ^(M)sold ^[l]him to the Ishmaelites for ^[m]twenty shekels of silver. So ^(N)they brought Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹ Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he ^(O)tore his garments. ³⁰ He returned to his brothers and said, “^(P)The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?” ³¹ So ^(Q)they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; ³² and they sent the ^[n]multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We found this; please ^[o]examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” ³³ Then he ^[p]examined it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. ^(R)A vicious animal has devoured him; ^(S)Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” ³⁴ So Jacob ^(T)tore his clothes, and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ Then all his sons and all his daughters got up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, “Surely I will ^(U)go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile, the ^[q]Midianites ^(V)sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.