As he approached the place where his brothers were they saw him when he
was yet some distance away, but the anger and jealousy arose in their
hearts, and they said: "Ah! Here comes the best beloved son. Let us do
away with him. Then the love which our father gives to him may be
bestowed upon us." So, as the lad drew nearer, they planned how they
might destroy him. But one, the oldest brother, loved Joseph, and tried
to save him from the hands of his evil brothers. So when they said, "Let
us destroy him," Reuben, the eldest, said: "Nay, but let us cast him
into a pit near by," thinking he would save him when the other brothers
left.

So when Joseph drew near they seized him, stripped him of his coat of
many colors, and cast him into a pit, and left him there alone.

Then they said: "Let us make a feast. See, our father hath sent us many
things." And they sat down and made a feast with the things which their
brother Joseph had brought to them.

As they were eating they looked up, and, coming down the roadway, they
saw a large company of merchantmen passing on their way to Egypt. Then
an evil plan came to the mind of one brother, and he said: "It is going
to bring us no gain to keep Joseph in the pit. Let us sell him to those
men and gain money for ourselves." The brothers agreed, and Joseph, the
beloved son, was sold into Egypt for twenty pieces of silver.

When the brothers went home they took the coat of many colors to the old
father, and said: "Is not this thy son's coat which we found? An evil
beast hath surely destroyed him." And the old father wept for Joseph,
his son, and would not be comforted.