20. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21. When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.
22. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
24. and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.