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 us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18. When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.
19. They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer!
20. Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, 'A wild beast devoured him.' Then let us see what will become of his dreams!"
21. But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, "Let us not take his life."
22. Reuben further said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him"-that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father.
23. So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored 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.