But when Reuben … out of their hands: Revised Standard Version introduces Reuben’s intervention with But. Good News Translation uses only a new paragraph. Some versions say “When Reuben heard this….” All these are possible translations. Reuben as the eldest son is responsible to represent his father in the latter’s absence. Delivered him out of their hands is an idiom in which hands represents power, control. The form of the verb rendered delivered probably has the sense of attempting to deliver. See Good News Translation “tried to save Joseph.”

Let us not take his life is literally “Let us not strike his life [soul].” The sense is correctly rendered by Revised Standard Version.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .