18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them ^tthey conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, ^ulet us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.¹ Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when ^vReuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—^wthat he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, ^xthe robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and ^ythrew him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a ^zcaravan of ^aIshmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ^bgum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it ^cif we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^dlet not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then ^eMidianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and ^fsold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels² of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^lPotiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^mhad bought him from the ⁿIshmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 ^oThe Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^pcaused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph ^qfound favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^rand put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house ^sfor Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So he left all that he had in Joseph’s charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was ^thandsome in form and appearance.