Genesis 37:12-22

12Then his brothers went to graze their father’s flocks at Shechem.

13Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers grazing the flocks in Shechem? Come, let me send you to them.” “Here I am,” he said to him.

14Then he said to him, “Go now, and check on the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flocks and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem.

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

16“I’m looking for my brothers,” he said. “Please tell me where they’re grazing.”

17The man said, “They moved on from here. For I heard them saying, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

18Now they saw him from a distance. Before he was close to them they plotted together against him in order to kill him.

19They said to one another, “Here comes the master of dreams!

20Come on now! Let’s kill him and throw him into one of those pits, so we can say that an evil animal devoured him. Then let’s see what becomes of his dreams.”

21But Reuben heard and rescued him out of their hands, saying, “We must not beat him to death.”

22In order to rescue him from their hand and to return him to his father, Reuben said to them, “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him!”