The Pit

He had come looking for them.

His father had sent him to check on them.

They saw him coming from afar.

Before he arrived, they had already decided to kill him.

They said: Here comes this dreamer.

Come, let us kill him and throw him into a pit.

We will say a fierce animal has devoured him.

Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.

Reuben spoke up. He said not to take his life.

Throw him in the pit but do not lay a hand on him.

He intended to rescue him later.

They stripped Joseph of his robe.

The ornamented robe he wore.

They threw him into the pit.

The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat bread.

He was in the pit.

They could hear him.

They sat down to eat.

While they were eating, a caravan of Ishmaelites passed.

Judah said: What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites.

They sold him for twenty pieces of silver.

The traders took him to Egypt.

Reuben returned to the pit.

Joseph was not in it.

He tore his clothes.

He said: The boy is gone. And I, where shall I go?

They killed a goat.

They dipped the robe in the blood.

They brought it to their father.

They said: We found this. Please identify whether it is your son's robe.

Jacob recognized it.

He said: It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him.

He tore his garments.

He put on sackcloth.

He mourned many days.

All his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him.

He refused to be comforted.

He said: I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.

His father wept for him.

Joseph was in Egypt.

And the brothers who had sold him watched their father mourn the son they knew was alive.

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