¹⁸ They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them ^(A)they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰ Come now, ^(B)let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.^[a] Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” ²¹ But when ^(C)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”—^(D)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, ^(E)the robe of many colors that he wore. ²⁴ And they took him and ^(F)threw 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 ^(G)caravan of ^(H)Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ^(I)gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it ^(J)if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷ Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and ^(K)let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. ²⁸ Then ^(L)Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and ^(M)sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels^[b] of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he ^(N)tore his clothes ³⁰ and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy ^(O)is gone, and I, where shall I go?” ³¹ Then they took ^(P)Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. ³² And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.” ³³ And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. ^(Q)A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” ³⁴ Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵ All his sons and all his daughters ^(R)rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, ^(S)I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. ³⁶ Meanwhile ^(T)the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, ^(U)the captain of the guard.

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^(A)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(B)had bought him from the ^(C)Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ^2 (D)The 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 ^(E)caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph ^(F)found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^(G)and 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 ^(H)for 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 ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and ^(J)he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and ^(K)sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he ^(L)would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹ But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ^12 (M)she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³ And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰ And Joseph's master took him and ^(N)put him into the ^(O)prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison.