Genesis 37:12-22

12Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

13And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.”

14Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

15Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?”

16So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

17And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

18Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.

19Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming!

20Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!”

21But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.”

22And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.