Parashas Vayeishev · Passuk 37:24
And they took him, and cast him into the pit; and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
Torah Temimah points to Shabbos 22a.
English: Rav Nasan bar Manyumi expounded in the name of Rabbi Tanchum: “And the pit was empty, there was no water in it.” From the fact that it says the pit was empty, do I not know that there was no water in it? What does “there was no water in it” teach? There was no water in it, but there were snakes and scorpions in it.
Derash on the verse (Bavli sugya) — not a formal named middah of the 13. The extra words “there was no water in it” are read as excluding water while implying the presence of snakes and scorpions.
The pit into which Yosef was cast contained snakes and scorpions. The verse’s emphasis that there was no water teaches that other dangers were present, making his survival a miracle.