66 : Joseph Is Thrown Into A Pit
So it happened that when Joseph came up to his brothers,
they stripped Joseph out of his coat, the coat of many colours which he was wearing.
Then they took him and threw him into the pit.
The pit was empty and there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat bread, but when they lifted their eyes,
behold, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites arriving from Gilead,
their camels loaded with spices, balm and myrrh which they were carrying down to Egypt.
Then Judah said to his brothers: "What will we gain if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,
and let us not touch him, for he is our brother and our flesh."
This satisfied the brothers.
They lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver,
and the merchants took Joseph to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the pit, behold, Joseph was no longer in the pit.
Reuben tore his clothes in grief.
Then he went to his brothers and said: "The child is not there, and I, where shall I go?"
The brothers took Joseph's coat, killed a young goat, and dipped the coat in the blood.
Then they brought the coat of many colours to their father,
saying: "We found this. Do you know whether or not it is your son's coat?"
He recognized it and said: "It is my son's coat. A wild beast has devoured him.
Joseph has been torn in pieces."
Then Jacob tore his clothes in grief, and put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him,
but he refused to be comforted, and said: "I will go down to the grave, mourning for my son."
Thus his father wept for him.
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