Joseph sold by his brothers GEN 37:28

Joseph, sent by his father to check on his brothers, arrives at Dothan wearing his distinctive coat. His brothers strip him, throw him into an empty pit, and later sell him to a passing caravan of Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver on their way to Egypt. They dip his coat in goat's blood to make their father believe he was killed by a wild animal.

Reuben, the eldest, intended to rescue Joseph quietly and return him to their father, but he is absent exactly when the caravan appears and the sale takes place. Judah, instead, argues that selling their brother for profit is preferable to killing him outright, and the others agree with his proposal.

A common confusion is mixing up Joseph's price with the thirty pieces of silver later paid to Judas for betraying Jesus. The text here speaks of twenty pieces of silver, a different amount tied to this earlier, separate betrayal within Joseph's own family.

This episode marks the turning point that sends Joseph into Egypt, setting up the later story of famine, reconciliation, and the family's survival. Christians often see in it a foreshadowing of betrayal by one's own and of God's providence working through human wrongdoing, though they differ on how closely to connect it with other biblical events.