² This is the account^(A) of Jacob’s family line.

Joseph,^(B) a young man of seventeen,^(C) was tending the flocks^(D) with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah^(E) and the sons of Zilpah,^(F) his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report^(G) about them.

³ Now Israel^(H) loved Joseph more than any of his other sons,^(I) because he had been born to him in his old age;^(J) and he made an ornate^[a] robe^(K) for him.^{(L) 4} When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him^(M) and could not speak a kind word to him.

¹⁷ “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.^(A)’”

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. ¹⁸ But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.^(B)

¹⁹ “Here comes that dreamer!^(C)” they said to each other. ²⁰ “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns^(D) and say that a ferocious animal^(E) devoured him.^(F) Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”^(G)

²¹ When Reuben^(H) heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.^{(I) 22} “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern^(J) here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.^(K)

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe^(L) he was wearing— ²⁴ and they took him and threw him into the cistern.^(M) The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.