Genesis 37:20-24 ▼

20 So now, come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”

21 But Reuben heard this and delivered him out of their hands and said, “Let us not strike down his life.”

22 Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not put forth your hands against him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands to return him to his father.

23 Now it happened, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;

24 and they took him and cast him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.