²⁰ Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save him from them.^[a] He said, “Let’s not take his life.”^{(A) 22} Reuben also said to them, “Don’t shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him”—intending to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.

²³ When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on. ²⁴ Then they took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

²⁵ Then they sat down to eat a meal.^(B) They looked up, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.^(C) Their camels were carrying aromatic gum, balsam, and resin, going down to Egypt.^(D)

²⁶ Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? ²⁷ Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed. ²⁸ When Midianite^(E) traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.^(F)

²⁹ When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.^(G)

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.^(A)

⁷ But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official employed in the king’s palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,^{(B) 8} Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”^(C)

¹⁰ So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here 30 men under your authority and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king’s palace to a place below the storehouse.^[a] From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, “Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he continued to stay in the guard’s courtyard.