'Brothers' in the Bible

Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside.

he said:Canaan will be cursed.He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.

This man will be like a wild donkey.His hand will be against everyone,and everyone’s hand will be against him;he will live at odds with all his brothers.

He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers.

And they settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt as you go toward Asshur. He lived in opposition to all his brothers.

May peoples serve youand nations bow down to you.Be master over your brothers;may your mother’s sons bow down to you.Those who curse you will be cursed,and those who bless you will be blessed.

Jacob asked the men at the well, “My brothers! Where are you from?”“We’re from Haran,” they answered.

When Laban overtook Jacob, Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban and his brothers also pitched their tents in the hill country of Gilead.

Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Grant me this favor, and I’ll give you whatever you say.

On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.

These are the family records of Jacob.At 17 years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

“Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said.

Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to me.”

He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Are your mother and brothers and I going to come and bow down to the ground before you?”

His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

His brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.

Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are pasturing the flocks at Shechem. Get ready. I’m sending you to them.”“I’m ready,” Joseph replied.

Then Israel said to him, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph said. “Can you tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”

“They’ve moved on from here,” the man said. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the robe of many colors that he had on.

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

Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh,” and they agreed.

He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”

At that time Judah left his brothers and settled near an Adullamite named Hirah.

So 10 of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”

Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people. His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them.“Where do you come from?” he asked.“From the land of Canaan to buy food,” they replied.

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

But they replied, “We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living.”

He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

We were 12 brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.

They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is abhorrent to them.

When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.

Now please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave, in place of the boy. Let him go back with his brothers.

Joseph could no longer keep his composure in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone away from me!” No one was with him when he revealed his identity to his brothers.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But they could not answer him because they were terrified in his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please, come near me,” and they came near. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt.

Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan.

He gave each of the brothers changes of clothes, but he gave Benjamin 300 pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.

So Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Don’t argue on the way.”

Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

So Joseph went and informed Pharaoh: “My father and my brothers, with their sheep and cattle and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”

He took five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

Then Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?”And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants, both we and our fathers, are shepherds.”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and brothers have come to you,

the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land. They can live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food for their dependents.

Children born to you after them will be yours and will be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance.

Over and above what I am giving your brothers, I am giving you the one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

Simeon and Levi are brothers;their knives are vicious weapons.

Judah, your brothers will praise you.Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;your father’s sons will bow down to you.

The blessings of your father excelthe blessings of my ancestorsand the bounty of the eternal hills.May they rest on the head of Joseph,on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

along with all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen.

After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”

‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him.

Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Then Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died.

Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair hang loose and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the Lord will become angry with the whole community. However, your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn over that tragedy when the Lord sent the fire.

“The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the garments, must not dishevel his hair or tear his garments.

You may leave them to your sons after you to inherit as property; you can make them slaves for life. But concerning your brothers, the Israelites, you must not rule over one another harshly.

he has the right of redemption after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him.

He may assist his brothers to fulfill responsibilities at the tent of meeting, but he must not do the work. This is how you are to deal with the Levites regarding their duties.”

But also bring your relatives with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and assist you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.

The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord.

Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan? Since he had no son, give us property among our father’s brothers.”

“What Zelophehad’s daughters say is correct. You are to give them hereditary property among their father’s brothers and transfer their father’s inheritance to them.

If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers.

If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.

If his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative of his clan, and he will take possession of it. This is to be a statutory ordinance for the Israelites as the Lord commanded Moses.”

But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your brothers go to war while you stay here?

I commanded your judges at that time: Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge rightly between a man and his brother or a foreign resident.

Where can we go? Our brothers have discouraged us, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the heavens. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’

Command the people: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful.

“So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and from Elath and Ezion-geber. We traveled along the road to the Wilderness of Moab.

“I commanded you at that time: The Lord your God has given you this land to possess. All your fighting men will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.

until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they also take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.

For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.

“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people.

Although Levi has no inheritance among his brothers, the Lord is his inheritance, as He promised him.

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

The officers will continue to address the army and say, ‘Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers’ hearts won’t melt like his own.’

“If a man is discovered kidnapping one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

“Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether one of your brothers or one of the foreigners residing within a town in your land.

“When brothers live on the same property and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her.

He said about his father and mother,“I do not regard them.”He disregarded his brothersand didn’t acknowledge his sons,for they kept Your wordand maintained Your covenant.

with the choice gifts of the landand everything in it;and with the favor of Himwho appeared in the burning bush.May these rest on the head of Joseph,on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

He said about Asher:May Asher be the most blessed of the sons;may he be the most favored among his brothersand dip his foot in olive oil.

Your wives, young children, and livestock may remain in the land Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But your fighting men must cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers and help them

until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He has given you, and they too possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. You may then return to the land of your inheritance and take possession of what Moses the Lord’s servant gave you on the east side of the Jordan.”