Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. (Now the cistern was empty; ¹  there was no water in it.)

Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! ¹  He tore his clothes,

Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild ¹  animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!” ² 

for I really was kidnapped ¹  from the land of the Hebrews and I have done nothing wrong here for which they should put me in a dungeon.”

Then Pharaoh summoned ¹  Joseph. So they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; he shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.

Reuben continued, ¹  “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” ²  (Reuben said this ³  so he could rescue Joseph ⁴  from them ⁵  and take him back to his father.)

So when the Midianite ¹  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ²  him ³  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ⁴  then took Joseph to Egypt.