²¹ When Reuben^(A) heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.^{(B) 22} “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern^(C) here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.^(D)

²³ So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe^(E) he was wearing—