Genesis 37:12-22

12His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

13Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.” “I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

14Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.

15A man found him there, wandering in the field, and asked him, “What are you looking for?”

16“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

17“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

19They said to one another, “Oh, look, here comes that dream expert!

20So now, come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

21When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them. He said, “Let’s not take his life.”

22Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him” — intending to rescue him from them and return him to his father.