12. And while his brothers were lodging at Shechem, pasturing their father's flocks,
13. Israel said to him: "Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Come, I will send you to them." And when he answered,
14. "I am ready," he said to him, "Go, and see if everything is prospering with your brothers and the cattle, and report to me what is happening." So, having been sent from the valley of Hebron, he arrived at Shechem.
15. And a man found him wandering in a field, and he asked him what he was seeking.
16. So he responded: "I seek my brothers. Tell me where they pasture the flocks."
17. And the man said to him: "They have withdrawn from this place. But I heard them saying, 'Let us go to Dothan.' " Therefore, Joseph continued on after his brothers, and he found them at Dothan.
18. And, when they had seen him from afar, before he approached them, they decided to kill him.
19. And they said one to another: "Behold, the dreamer approaches.
20. Come, let us kill him and cast him into the old cistern. And let us say: 'an evil wild beast has devoured him.' And then it will become apparent what his dreams will do for him."
21. But Reuben, on hearing this, strove to free him from their hands, and he said:
22. "Do not take away his life, nor shed blood. But throw him into this cistern, which is in the wilderness, and so keep your hands harmless." But he said this, wanting to rescue him from their hands, so as to return him to his father.
23. And so, as soon as he came to his brothers, they very quickly stripped him of his tunic, which was ankle-length and woven of many colors,
24. and they cast him into an old cistern, which held no water.