Grow With Me
Grow With Me

אָח

ach · brother

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H251 · appears 630 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

ach (אָח) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “brother”.

Also a close relative, or someone of the same people.

How to say it

ach

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. A son of the same father or the same mother.
  2. A close relative of the same family, like a nephew.
  3. Someone of the same people, or a friend.
  4. Together with "one", it is used to say "one another".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Brother. BDB: in the widest sense, from literal kinship to closeness or likeness. From the same family is אָחוֹת, “sister” (H269), and it is part of names such as Ahimelech.

Historical and cultural background

The laws ask that a poor Israelite be treated as a brother: supported, not shut out with a closed hand (Leviticus 25:35; Deuteronomy 15:7). Deuteronomy 25:5 regulates the case of brothers who live together when one dies without a son.

How we translate it

“Brothers” 335 times, “brother” 278. The translation keeps “brother” also when it is a nephew (Lot before Abram, Genesis 13:8; Jacob before Laban, 29:15) or a fellow Israelite (Deuteronomy 15:7), as the Hebrew says; the context shows the degree of kinship. In the reciprocal phrase “each to his brother”, English says “one… the other” (Exodus 25:20).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • brothers ×335
  • brother ×278
  • another ×14
  • other ×2
  • any ×1

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Genesis 4:2

    And again she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain was a worker of the ground.

  • Genesis 4:8

    And Cain said to Abel his brother … And it happened, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

  • Genesis 4:9

    And YHWH said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

  • Genesis 4:10

    And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.

  • Genesis 4:11

    And now, cursed are you away from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

  • Genesis 4:21

    And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe.

  • Genesis 9:5

    And surely your blood, for your lives, I will require; from the hand of every animal I will require it, and from the hand of the human being, from the hand of each one for his brother, I will require the life of the human being.

  • Genesis 9:22

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

  • Genesis 9:25

    And he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves he will be to his brothers.”

  • Genesis 10:21

    And to Shem also, to him, sons were born, the father of all the sons of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth.

  • Genesis 10:25

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

  • Genesis 12:5

    Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot the son of his brother, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to the land of Canaan.

  • Genesis 13:8

    Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are men, brothers.

  • Genesis 13:11

    So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; and they separated, each from his brother.

  • Genesis 14:12

    They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his possessions, and went away; for he was living in Sodom.

  • Genesis 14:13

    One who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they had a covenant with Abram.

  • Genesis 14:14

    When Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he called out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

  • Genesis 14:16

    He brought back all the possessions, and also Lot his brother and his possessions he brought back, and also the women and the people.

  • Genesis 16:12

    He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone, and the hand of everyone against him; and facing all his brothers he will dwell.”

  • Genesis 19:7

    and said, “Please, my brothers, do not do evil.

  • Genesis 20:5

    Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, she too said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

  • Genesis 20:13

    And when Elohim caused me to wander from the house of my father, I said to her, ‘This is the loyal love that you shall show me: in every place that we come to, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

  • Genesis 20:16

    And to Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; look, it is for you a covering for the eyes for all who are with you; and before everyone you are vindicated.”

  • Genesis 22:20

    After these things it was told to Abraham, saying, “Look, Milcah too has borne sons to Nahor your brother:

  • Genesis 22:21

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

  • Genesis 22:23

    Bethuel fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

  • Genesis 24:15

    It happened, before he had finished speaking, that, look, Rebekah was coming out, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her jar on her shoulder.

  • Genesis 24:27

    and said, “Blessed be YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, who has not abandoned his loyal love and his faithfulness toward my lord. As for me, YHWH has led me on the way to the house of my lord’s brothers.”

  • Genesis 24:29

    Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man, to the spring.

  • Genesis 24:48

    And I bowed my head and bowed down to YHWH, and I blessed YHWH, the Elohim of my lord Abraham, who had led me on a true way to take the daughter of my lord’s brother for his son.

  • Genesis 24:53

    The servant brought out objects of silver and objects of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; and costly gifts he gave to her brother and to her mother.

  • Genesis 24:55

    Her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl stay with us some days, or ten; after that she will go.”

  • Genesis 25:18

    They lived from Havilah to Shur, which is facing Egypt as you go toward Assyria. He settled facing all his brothers.

  • Genesis 25:26

    After that his brother came out, with his hand holding on to the heel of Esau, and he called his name Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

  • Genesis 26:31

    They rose early in the morning and swore one to another; and Isaac sent them away, and they went from him in peace.

  • Genesis 27:6

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

  • Genesis 27:11

    Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

  • Genesis 27:23

    He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother; so he blessed him.

  • Genesis 27:29

    May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”

  • Genesis 27:30

    As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

And 590 more times.