'Brother' in the Bible

{Then she bore} his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground.

Then Cain said to his brother Abel, ["Let us go out into the field."] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Then Yahweh said to Cain, "Where [is] Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"

So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand.

And the name of his brother [was] Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and wind instruments.

And {your lifeblood} I will require; from {every animal} I will require it. And from the hand of humankind, from the hand of [each] man to his brother I will require the life of humankind.

And to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the older brother of Japheth, [children] were also born.

And to Eber two sons were born. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and the name of his brother [was] Joktan.

And they took Lot, the son of the brother of Abram, and his possessions, and left. (Now he had been living in Sodom.)

Then one who escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. And he was living at the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner. {They were allies with Abram}.

Did not he himself say to me, 'She [is] my sister'? And she herself said, 'He [is] my brother.' With integrity of my heart and with cleanness of my hands I did this."

And it happened [that] as God caused me to wander from the house of my father I said to her, 'This [is] your loyal kindness that you must do for me at every place where we come: say concerning me, "He [is] my brother." '"

And to Sarah he said, "Look, I have given a thousand [pieces of] silver to your brother. It [shall be] {an exoneration}. {You are vindicated before all who are with you}."

And it happened [that] after these things, it was told to Abraham, "Look, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor:

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

(Now, Bethuel fathered Rebekah). These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.

And it happened [that] before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah--who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham--came out, and her jar [was] on her shoulder.

And he said, "Blessed [be] Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, who has not withheld his loyal love and his faithfulness from my master. I [was] on the way [and] Yahweh led me [to] the house of my master's brother."

Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name [was] Laban. And Laban ran out to the man toward the spring.

And I knelt down and worshiped Yahweh, and I praised Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who led me on the right way, to take the daughter of the brother of my master for his son.

And the servant brought out silver jewelry and gold jewelry, and garments, and he gave [them] to Rebekah. And he gave precious gifts to her brother and to her mother.

And her brother and her mother said, "Let the girl remain with us ten days [or so]; after [that] she may go."

And afterward his brother came out, and his hand grasped the heel of Esau, so his name was called Jacob. And Isaac {was sixty years old} at their birth.

Rebekah said to Jacob her son, "Look, I heard your father speaking to Esau your brother saying,

Then Jacob said to his mother, "Behold, Esau my brother [is] a hairy man, but I [am] a smooth man.

And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother. And he blessed him.

And as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, {immediately after} Jacob had gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came [back] from his hunting.

And he said, "Your brother came in deceit and took your blessing."

But by your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother. But it shall be [that] when free yourself you shall tear off his yoke from your neck.

Then Esau held a grudge against Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are coming, then I will kill Jacob my brother."

But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called for her younger son Jacob. And she said to him, "Look, Esau your brother [is] consoling himself concerning you, [intending] to kill you.

Now then, my son, listen to my voice; arise and flee to Haran to Laban my brother.

Stay with him a few days until the wrath of your brother has turned--

until the anger of your brother turns from you and he has forgotten what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I lose the two of you in one day?"

Arise, go to Paddan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and take for yourself a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother.

Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

And it happened [that], when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob drew near and rolled away the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother.

Then Laban said to Jacob, "[Just] because you [are] my brother should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wage [should be]."

Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother, to the land of Seir, the territory of Edom.

And the messengers returned to Jacob [and] said, "We came to your brother, to Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men [are] with him."

Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack mother and children [alike].

And he lodged there that night. Then he took {from what he had with him} a gift for Esau his brother:

And he instructed the foremost, saying, "When Esau my brother comes upon you and asks you, saying, 'Whose [are] you and where are you going? To whom do these [animals] belong ahead of you?'

And he himself passed on before them and bowed down to the ground seven times until he came to his brother.

Then Esau said, "{I have enough} my brother; {keep what you have}."

And God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother."

And he built an altar there and called the place El-Bethel, for there God had appeared to him when he fled before his brother.

And Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the persons of his household, and his sheep and goats, and all his cattle, and all the goods that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from his brother Jacob.

Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit [is there] if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but our hand shall not be against him, for he [is] our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed.

Then Judah said to Onan, "Go in to the wife of your brother and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be for him, so whenever he went in to the wife of his brother he would waste [it] on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Stay a widow in your father's house until Shelah my son grows up," for {he feared he would also die} like his brother. So Tamar went and stayed in the house of her father.

Then his hand drew back and, behold, his brother came out, and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself!" And she called his name Perez.

And afterward his brother who [had] the crimson thread on his hand came out. And his name was called Zerah.

But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, for {he feared harm would come to him}.

By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison so that your words might be tested [to see] if [there is] truth with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh surely you [are] spies."

You must bring your youngest brother to me, and then your words will be confirmed and you will not die." And they did so.

Then each said to his brother, "Surely we [are] guilty on account of our brother when we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded for mercy to us and we would not listen. Therefore this trouble has come to us."

Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you [are] honest. Leave one [brother] with me, and take [food for] the famine in your households and go.

And bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you [are] not spies but you [are] honest. And I will give your brother [back] to you, and you will trade in the land.'"

But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone remains. [If] harm meets him on the journey that you would take, you would bring down my gray head in sorrow to Sheol."

Then Judah said to him, "The man solemnly admonished us, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother [is] with you.'

{If you will send} our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you,

but {if you will not send} [him], we will not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother [is] with you.'"

Then Israel said, "Why did you bring trouble to me by telling the man you still had a brother?"

And they said, "The man asked explicitly about us and about our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?' And we answered him according to these words. How could we know that he would say, 'Bring down your brother'?"

And take your brother. Now arise and return to the man.

And may El-Shaddai grant you compassion before the man that he may release your other brother to you and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."

Then he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, the son of his mother, and said, "Is this your youngest brother of whom you told me?" And he continued, "God be gracious to you, my son."

Then Joseph {hurried away}, {being overcome with emotion} toward his brother, and sought for [a place] to cry. Then he went into a room and wept there.

My lord had asked his servants, saying, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

And we said to my lord, 'We have an aged father, and a younger [brother], the child of his old age, and his brother died, and he alone remains from his mother, and his father loves him.'

Then you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not again see my face.'

then we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother [is] with us, then we shall go down. For we will not be able to see the face of the man unless our youngest brother [is] with us.'

So Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." And they drew near. And he said, "I [am] Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

Now behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that {it is I} who am speaking to you.

Then he fell upon the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck.

But his father refused and said, "I know, my son; I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but his younger brother shall be greater than him, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations."

{And Yahweh was angry with} Moses and said, "[Is there] not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.

And Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I have made you [as] a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

You will speak all that I will command you, and Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh, and he will release the {Israelites} from his land.

No one could see his brother, and {because of it no one could move from where they were} [for] three days, but there was light for the {Israelites} in their dwellings.

"And bring near to you Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him from the midst of the {Israelites} to serve as priests for me--Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron.

And you will make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for splendor.

And these are the garments that they will make: A breast piece and an ephod and a robe and a tunic of specially woven fabric, a turban and a sash. And they will make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and for his sons to serve as priests for me.

And you will clothe them--Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him--and you will anoint them and {ordain them} and consecrate them, and they will serve as priests for me.

And he said to them, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Put each his sword on his side. Go {back and forth} from gate to gate in the camp, and kill, each his brother and each his friend and each his close relative.'"

And Moses said, "{You are ordained} today for Yahweh, because each [has been] against his son and against his brother and so bringing on you today a blessing."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell your brother Aaron [that] he should not enter at any time into the sanctuary {behind} the curtain {in front of} the atonement cover that [is] on the ark, so that he might not die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

You must not expose the nakedness of your father's brother; you must not {have sex with} his wife--she [is] your aunt.

" 'You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your fellow citizen, so that you do not incur sin {along with} him.

except for his direct relative closest to him: his mother and his father, and his son and his daughter, and his brother,

" 'When your brother becomes poor and he sells part of his property, then {his nearest redeemer} shall come, and he shall redeem the thing sold by his brother.

for even his father, mother, brother, or sister he will not make himself unclean {by their death}, because the separation to his God [is] on his head.

"Take the staff and summon the community, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give water. Bring out for them water from the rock, and let the community and their livestock drink."

From Kadesh Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: "Thus your brother Israel has said, 'You know all the hardship that has found us;

When you see it, you will be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother was gathered,

And they said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the {Israelites}, and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.