Genesis 37:24

Genesis 37:24, in plain English

They throw Joseph into an empty pit—a dark, barren hole with no water to drink. It's cruel and deliberate, and you can imagine the fear Joseph must have felt.

Why it's here

The pit represents both their violence and their cowardice. They won't kill him with their own hands (following Reuben's suggestion), but they're content to leave him to die slowly of thirst or despair. It's a way of distancing themselves from direct responsibility.

Who's speaking

The narrator describes what happens.

Where it sits in the story

The pit foreshadows Joseph's later imprisonment in Egypt, but more importantly, it's the low point before God begins His work of exaltation. Joseph's journey to greatness passes through abandonment and fear.

The scholarly reading

The brothers throw Joseph into an empty cistern—a pit with no water, emphasizing the danger and desperation of his situation.

Language and setting

The specificity of 'no water' (אין בו מים, ein bo mayim) is narratively significant. Ancient cisterns were often used to store water, making an empty one particularly treacherous. The brothers' act of throwing Joseph into an empty pit is deliberately cruel—they leave him to face potential death by exposure, thirst, or accident. Philo of Alexandria, in his allegorical reading, interpreted the empty pit as a symbol of moral emptiness and spiritual desolation, though the plain sense is the physical peril Joseph faces.

Voice

The narrator recounting the brothers' action and describing the cistern's condition.

Significance

Joseph's descent into the pit becomes a type or foreshadowing of his later trials in Egypt—he enters spaces of confinement and apparent hopelessness, only to experience divine deliverance. Medieval exegetes like Maimonides read this as a pattern of testing that prepares Joseph for his eventual role as savior.

22“Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.

23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing—

24and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.

25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.

26Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Read all of Genesis 37 — A father's favorite son, a coat of many colors, and brothers consumed by jealousy. What they meant for evil, God will use for something unimaginable.