which he told in the same way to his brethren. "I saw in a dream, as it were, the sun and the moon and

eleven stars worshipping me." When his father heard the dream, he rebuked Joseph, and said: "What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? shall I and thy mother and thy brethren come to bow down to thee?" The hatred and envy of his brethren had now reached its height; his father, however, consi

JOSEPH CAST INTO THE WELL.

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dered over within himself all that had come to pass, for he had himself in his lifetime had dreams which had come true; and Jacob began to think that Almighty God might have something great in store for his son Joseph.

§ 21. Joseph cast into the Well.

Joseph's brethren had now gone to feed their flocks to some distance from the place where Jacob had fixed his tents, when Jacob called Joseph, and said to him: "Thy brethren are feeding the flocks in Sichem; go and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the cattle, and bring me word again what is doing." Joseph at once set out for Sichem, a distance of about twenty-five miles; not finding his brethren there, he followed them further into the mountains, in the direction of Dothain. As his brethren recognised him in the distance, the thought came into their minds that this was an opportunity for them to kill him, and to get him out of the way; and they said one to another: "Behold, here comes this dreamer of dreams; come, let us kill him, and throw him into some old well, and we will say, Some beast of prey must have devoured him; and then we shall see what good will come of all his dreams." His brother Ruben hearing this, did his best to save his life, and said: "Shed no blood; but throw him into this pit, and keep your hands harmless." This he said with the intention of saving him from immediate death, and of afterwards restoring him safe to his father.

As soon as Joseph came up to his brethren, they seized him, tore his coat of many colours off his back, and threw him down into an old well, in which there was

no water. They then sat down to eat; but Ruben left their company to plan how to save his brother.

JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN.

§ 22. Joseph, at sixteen years of age, is sold by his Brethren.

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As Joseph's brethren were seated at their meal, they saw a company of Ismaelites on their way, coming from Galaad with their camels, carrying spices and balm and myrrh into Egypt. And Juda said to

JOSEPH IS SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN TO THE ISMAELITES.

his brethren: "What good will it do us to kill our brother, and conceal his blood? It is better that he should be sold to the Ismaelites, and that our hands

be not defiled; for he is our brother and our flesh." To this they all agreed; and as the Madianite merchants passed by, they drew Joseph up from the bottom of the well or dry cistern, and sold him to the Ismaelites for twenty pieces of silver. Joseph was now taken off by these merchants down to Egypt, to be sold as a slave.

Ruben, who had taken no part in the business, came to the well after Joseph had been sold and carried off; and not finding his brother there, he tore his garments for grief. The rest of Joseph's brethren took a goat from the flocks and killed it, and dipping Joseph's coat in it, they sent it by a messenger to Jacob, bidding him say, that it was what they had found, and that they wished him to see whether it was his son Joseph's coat or not. Jacob knew the coat again in a moment, and cried out: "It is my son's coat; an evil beast has eaten him up; a beast has devoured Joseph." And tearing his garments, he put on sackcloth, and passed many days in deep mourning, refusing all comfort from his children, who gathered round him to console him, and saying: "I will go down into the grave to my son mourning."

§ 23. Joseph in Putiphar's House.

Joseph was brought in safety into Egypt by the Ismaelites who had bought him of his brethren, and was sold by them to Putiphar, an Egyptian of rank in the court of Pharao king of Egypt, and a chief captain in his army. God, however, was with Joseph in