'Brothers' in the Bible

Ham, who fathered Canaan, saw his father's genitals and told his two brothers outside.

Someone escaped, arrived, and reported what had happened to Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks belonging to Mamre the Amorite, whose brothers Eshcol and Aner were allied with Abram.

and said, "I urge you, my brothers, don't do such a wicked thing.

May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed."

In response, Isaac told Esau, "Look! I've predicted that he's going to become your master, and I've assigned all his brothers to be his servants. What then can I do for you, my son?"

Jacob asked them, "My brothers, where are you from?" "We're from Haran," they answered.

Shechem also addressed Dinah's father and brothers. He told them, "If you'll just approve me, I'll give whatever you ask of me.

Three days later, while they were still in pain, Jacob's sons Simeon and Levi, two of Dinah's brothers, each grabbed a sword and entered the city unannounced, intending to kill all the males.

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered tunic for him.

When Joseph's brothers realized that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him so much that they were unable to speak politely to him.

Right about this time, Joseph had a dream and then told it to his brothers. As a result, his brothers hated him all the more!

At this, his brothers replied, "Do you really think you're going to rule us or lord it over us?" So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his interpretations of them.

But then he had another dream, and he proceeded to tell his brothers about that one, too. "I had another dream," he said. "The sun, moon, and eleven of the stars were bowing down before me!"

When Joseph told his father about this, his father rebuked him and asked him, "What kind of dream is that? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come to you and bow down to the ground in front of you?"

As a result, his brothers became more envious of him. But his father kept thinking about all of this.

Some time later, his brothers left to tend their father's flock in Shechem.

And Israel instructed Joseph, "Your brothers are tending the flock in Shechem. Come here, because I'm going to send you to them." "Here I am!" he responded.

"Go and see how things are with your brothers," Israel ordered him. "And see how things are with the flock. Bring back a report for me." Then he sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron.

"I'm searching for my brothers," he responded. "Tell me, where are they tending the flock?"

"They've already left," the man answered. "I heard them saying that they were headed to Dothan." So Joseph followed his brothers to Dothan and found them there.

As it was, when Joseph arrived where his brothers were, they stripped off the tunic that Jacob had given him that is, the richly-embroidered tunic that he was wearing.

Then Judah suggested to his brothers, "Where's the profit in just killing our brother and shedding his blood?

So Judah's brothers listened to him. As the Midianite merchants were passing through, they extracted Joseph from the cistern and sold Joseph for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who then took Joseph down to Egypt.

returned to his brothers, and shouted, "He's not there! Now what? Where am I to go?"

Right about then, Judah left his brothers and went to live with an Adullamite man named Hirah.

After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, "Go live as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up." But he was really thinking, ""otherwise, Shelah might die like his brothers." So Tamar left and lived in her father's house.

So ten of Joseph's brothers left to buy grain from Egypt.

Meanwhile, Joseph continued to be ruler over the land, in charge of selling to everyone in the land. Joseph's brothers appeared and bowed down to him, face down.

As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he knew who they were, but he remained disguised and asked them gruffly, "Where are you from?" "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We're here to buy food."

But Joseph had already recognized his brothers, even though they had not recognized him.

"But your majesty," they pleaded, "your servants include twelve brothers, the sons of a common father back in the land of Canaan. Please! Our youngest brother remains with our father, and the other one is no longer alive."

If you're honest men, leave one of your brothers here in custody, then the rest of you can leave and take some grain with you to alleviate the famine that's affecting your households.

He reported to his brothers, "My money has been returned! It's right here in my sack!" Trembling with mounting consternation, each of them asked one another, "What is God doing to us?"

But the man who was in charge of the land responded, "I'm going to test your honesty. Leave one of your brothers with me, take some grain for the famine that's afflicting your households, and leave.

When Joseph arrived at his palace, his brothers brought to him their gifts that they had carried with them and bowed to the ground in front of him.

Joseph's staff served him by himself, his brothers separately, and the Egyptian staff members by themselves, because the Egyptians wouldn't take their meal with the Hebrews, since doing so was detestable for the Egyptians.

Meanwhile, the brothers were seated in front of Joseph in birth order, from firstborn to youngest. The men stared at one another in astonishment.

Joseph was waiting for them back at his palace when his brothers returned. They fell to the ground in front of him,

Therefore, please allow your servant to remain as a slave to Your Excellency, instead of the young man, and let the young man go back home with his brothers.

At this point, Joseph could not control his emotions any longer, so he cried out to everyone who was standing nearby, "Everybody! Leave me!" As a result, none of his staff was anywhere near him when he revealed himself to his brothers.

Joseph blurted out, "I'm Joseph! Is my father really alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, because they had become terrified to be in his presence.

Joseph implored his brothers, "Please come close to me." So they did.

He kissed all of his brothers and wept with them, too, and then his brothers were able to talk with him.

As soon as the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had arrived, Pharaoh and his servants were ecstatic.

Pharaoh told Joseph, "Be sure to tell your brothers, "Do this: load up your livestock, go back to the land of Canaan,

Then Joseph sent his brothers away, and they left for home. As they were leaving, Joseph admonished them, "Don't quarrel on the way back!"

So Joseph's brothers left Egypt and returned to the land of Canaan and to their father Jacob,

But Joseph addressed his brothers and his father's household and told them, "I'll go up and tell Pharaoh that my brothers and my father's household have arrived from Canaan to be with me.

After this, Joseph went to inform Pharaoh. "My father and brothers have come here from Canaan," he said, "and they've come with their flocks, herds, and everything else they have. I settled them in the Goshen territory!"

He brought along five of his brothers to present before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh asked his brothers, "What are your occupations?"

Then Pharaoh replied to Joseph, "Now that your father and your brothers have come to you,

Egypt is at your disposal, so settle your father and brothers in the best part of the land! Let them live in the Goshen territory. If you learn that any of them are especially skilled, put them in charge of my livestock."

Joseph settled his father and brothers, assigning them their own land in the best part of Egypt (in the territory of Rameses), just as Pharaoh had ordered.

Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, proportionate to the number of young children.

Your descendants are to be reckoned as yours, but are to be referred to among the names of their brothers in their respective inheritances.

I'm assigning you one portion more than your brothers from the land that I confiscated from the control of the Amorites in battle."

"Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are violent weapons.

"Your brothers will praise you, Judah. Your hand will be at the throat of your enemies, and your father's children will bow down to you.

Your father's blessings will prove to be stronger than blessings from the eternal mountains or bounties from the everlasting hills. May they come to rest on Joseph's head, May they be set upon the brow of the one who was separated from his own brothers."

all of Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. They left behind in the territory of Goshen only their youngest children, their flocks, and their herds.

After he had buried his father, Joseph and his brothers returned to Egypt, along with everyone who had gone with him to attend the burial.

Later, after Joseph's brothers faced the reality of their father's death, they asked themselves, "What happens if Joseph decides to hold a grudge against us? What if he pays us back in full for all the wrong things we did to him?"

"Before he died, your father left some instructions. He told us, "Tell Joseph, "Please forgive your brothers' offenses. I beg you, forgive their sins, because they wronged you."' So please forgive the transgression of the servants of your father's God."

Joseph wept when they talked to him. So Joseph's brothers went to visit him, fell prostrate in front of him, and declared, "Look! We're your servants."

Later, Joseph told his brothers, "I'm going to die soon, but God will certainly provide for you and bring you up from this land to the land that he promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."