'Brother' in the Bible

Then again she became with child and gave birth to Abel, his brother. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a farmer.

And Cain said to his brother, Let us go into the field: and when they were in the field, Cain made an attack on his brother Abel and put him to death.

And the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel? And he said, I have no idea: am I my brother's keeper?

And for your blood, which is your life, will I take payment; from every beast I will take it, and from every man will I take payment for the blood of his brother-man.

And Shem, the older brother of Japheth, the father of the children of Eber, had other sons in addition.

And one who had got away from the fight came and gave word of it to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the holy tree of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner, who were friends of Abram.

Did he not say to me himself, She is my sister? and she herself said, He is my brother: with an upright heart and clean hands have I done this.

And when God sent me wandering from my father's house, I said to her, Let this be the sign of your love for me; wherever we go, say of me, He is my brother.

And he said to Sarah, See, I have given to your brother a thousand bits of silver so that your wrong may be put right; now your honour is clear in the eyes of all.

After these things, Abraham had news that Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, had given birth to children;

Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,

Bethuel was the father of Rebekah: these eight were the children of Milcah and Nahor, Abraham's brother.

And even before his words were ended, Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her water-vessel on her arm.

Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he came out quickly to the man at the water-spring.

And with bent head I gave worship and praise to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, by whom I had been guided in the right way, to get the daughter of my master's brother for his son.

Then he took jewels of silver and jewels of gold and fair robes and gave them to Rebekah: and he gave things of value to her mother and her brother.

But her brother and her mother said, Let the girl be with us a week or ten days, and then she may go.

And after him, his brother came out, gripping Esau's foot; and he was named Jacob: Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.

And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing,

And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth:

And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing.

So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.

So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

So Isaac sent Jacob away: and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

Then when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, coming with Laban's sheep, he came near, and rolling the stone away from the mouth of the hole, he got water for Laban's flock.

Then Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother are you to be my servant for nothing? say now, what is your payment to be?

Now Jacob sent servants before him to Esau, his brother, in the land of Seir, the country of Edom;

When the servants came back they said, We have seen your brother Esau and he is coming out to you, and four hundred men with him.

Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child.

Then he put up his tent there for the night; and from among his goods he took, as an offering for his brother Esau,

And he gave orders to the first, saying, When my brother Esau comes to you and says, Whose servant are you, and where are you going, and whose are these herds?

And he himself, going before them, went down on his face to the earth seven times till he came near his brother.

But Esau said, I have enough; keep what is yours, my brother, for yourself.

And God said to Jacob, Go up now to Beth-el and make your living-place there: and put up an altar there to the God who came to you when you were in flight from your brother Esau.

And there he made an altar, naming the place El-beth-el: because it was there he had the vision of God when he was in flight from his brother.

Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the people of his house, and his beasts and his cattle and all his goods which he had got together in the land of Canaan, and went into the land of Seir, away from his brother Jacob.

And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in putting our brother to death and covering up his blood?

Let us give him to these Ishmaelites for a price, and let us not put violent hands on him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers gave ear to him.

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife and do what it is right for a husband's brother to do; make her your wife and get offspring for your brother.

But Onan, seeing that the offspring would not be his, went in to his brother's wife, but let his seed go on to the earth, so that he might not get offspring for his brother.

And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord, so that he put him to death, like his brother.

But then he took his hand back again, and his brother came first to birth: and the woman said, What an opening you have made for yourself! So he was named Perez.

And then his brother came out, with the red thread round his hand, and he was named Zerah.

But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.

But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.

And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.

And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.

And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.

And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

And take your brother and go back to the man:

And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father.

But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again.

And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me. And they came near, And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sent into Egypt.

Now truly, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which says these things to you.

But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations.

And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother?

And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.

And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

Say whatever I give you orders to say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

Now let Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, come near from among the children of Israel, so that they may be my priests, even Aaron, and Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, his sons.

And make holy robes for Aaron your brother, so that he may be clothed with glory and honour.

This is what they are to make: a priest's bag, an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of coloured needlework, a head-dress, and a linen band; they are to make holy robes for Aaron your brother and for his sons, so that they may do the work of priests for me.

These you are to put on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons, putting oil on them, separating them and making them holy, to do the work of priests to me.

And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour.

And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day.

And Moses sent for Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the brother of Aaron's father, and said to them, Come near and take your brothers away from before the holy place, outside the tent-circle.

The Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, your brother, that he may not come at all times into the holy place inside the veil, before the cover which is on the ark, for fear that death may overtake him; for I will be seen in the cloud on the cover of the ark.

You may not have sex relations with the wife of your father's brother, for she is of your family;

Let there be no hate in your heart for your brother; but you may make a protest to your neighbour, so that he may be stopped from doing evil.

And if a man has sex relations with the wife of his father's brother, he has put shame on his father's brother: their sin will be on them; till the day of their death they will have no children.

And if a man takes his brother's wife, it is an unclean act; he has put shame on his brother; they will have no children.

But only for his near relations, for his mother or his father, his son or his daughter, and his brother;

If your brother becomes poor, and has to give up some of his land for money, his nearest relation may come and get back that which his brother has given up.

And if your brother becomes poor and is not able to make a living, then you are to keep him with you, helping him as you would a man from another country who is living among you.

Take no interest from him, in money or in goods, but have the fear of your God before you, and let your brother make a living among you.

And if your brother becomes poor and gives himself to you for money, do not make use of him like a servant who is your property;

Or his father's brother, or the son of his father's brother, or any near relation; or if he gets money, he may make himself free.

He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God.

Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.

Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;

And when you have seen it, you will be put to rest with your people, as your brother Aaron was:

And said, The Lord gave orders to my lord to make distribution of the land as their heritage to the children of Israel: and my lord was ordered by the Lord to give the heritage of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

And at that time I gave orders to your judges, saying, Let all questions between your brothers come before you for hearing, and give decisions uprightly between a man and his brother or one from another nation who is with him.

If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers;

A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go;

And the judges will have the question looked into with care: and if the witness is seen to be false and to have made a false statement against his brother,