18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this ^cdreamer. 20 Come now, let us ^dkill 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 ^eBut when Reuben 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”—that 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, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a ^fpit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.