Genesis 37:21-22

37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph ¹  from their hands, ²  saying, ³  “Let’s not take his life!” ⁴  37:22 Reuben continued, ⁵  “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” ⁶  (Reuben said this ⁷  so he could rescue Joseph ⁸  from them ⁹  and take him back to his father.)

Genesis 37:29-30

37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! ¹⁰  He tore his clothes, 37:30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”

Luke 23:41

23:41 And we rightly so, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did, but this man has done nothing ¹¹  wrong.”

Romans 2:15

2:15 They ¹²  show that the work of the law is written ¹³  in their hearts, as their conscience bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or else defend ¹⁴  them, ¹⁵ 

[37:21]  ¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:21]  ² sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).

[37:21]  ³ tn Heb “and he said.”

[37:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”

[37:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”

[37:22]  ⁶ sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.

[37:22]  ⁷ tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “from their hands” (cf. v. 21). This expression has been translated as “them” here for stylistic reasons.

[37:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.

[23:41]  ¹¹ sn This man has done nothing wrong is yet another declaration that Jesus was innocent of any crime.

[2:15]  ¹² tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[2:15]  ¹³ tn Grk “show the work of the law [to be] written,” with the words in brackets implied by the Greek construction.

[2:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “excuse.”

[2:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “their conscience bearing witness and between the thoughts accusing or also defending one another.”