创37:17They have moved on from here, the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

创37:18But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

创37:19Here comes that dreamer! they said to each other.

创37:20Come 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.

创37:21When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said.

创37:22Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

创37:23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe-the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-

创37:24and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

创37:25As 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.

创37:26Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

创37:27Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

创37:28So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

创37:29When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.

创37:30He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

创37:31Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

创37:32They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."

创37:33He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."

创37:34Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

创37:35All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.

创37:36Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.