The Selling of Joseph

Jacob loves Joseph more than his other sons and makes him a striped coat. Joseph tells his brothers his dreams — sheaves bowing to his sheaf, then the sun, moon and eleven stars — and their hatred grows. Sent to check on them near Shechem, he finds them at Dothan, and they see him from afar: "Here comes the dreamer… let us kill him and see what becomes of his dreams." Reuben persuades them to cast him into a pit instead, meaning to rescue him; Judah proposes selling him. They strip his coat, throw him into an empty pit — which, says the Talmud, held no water but did hold snakes and scorpions — and sell him to a passing Ishmaelite caravan for twenty pieces of silver. The caravan carried fragrant spices rather than foul-smelling pitch, so the righteous man would not suffer. The coat is dipped in a goat's blood and brought to Jacob, who tears his clothes and refuses comfort. In Egypt Joseph is bought by Potiphar and, after refusing his wife, spends twelve years in prison.