Joseph and his brothers

Cultural  

1. The sons of Jacob. According to the Book of Genesis, Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. To show his love for Joseph, Jacob gave him a coat of many colors, a splendid garment that aroused the jealousy of Joseph's brothers, who began to plot against him. The brothers sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt (see also Egypt) and pretended that he had been killed by a wild beast. Years later, the Egyptian pharaoh called on Joseph to interpret his troubling dreams. The pharaoh rewarded Joseph's skill in interpreting his dreams by making him second in command over the kingdom. Later, when the land of the Hebrews was beset by famine, Jacob was forced to send Joseph's brothers into Egypt to buy grain. The official with whom they had to deal turned out to be Joseph himself. When he discovered that his brothers were truly sorry for their treachery, he forgave them.

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Example Sentences

Mr. Woods translated some of the best-known novels written by Mr. Mann, a Nobel Prize winner: “Doctor Faustus,” “Buddenbrooks,” “Joseph and His Brothers” and “The Magic Mountain.”

From New York Times

In other interviews you’ve talked about a drawing you made when you were in third grade, of Joseph and his brothers, from the Bible.

From New York Times

That’s true, Joseph and his brothers.

From New York Times

He packed so much physical detail and psychological acuity into his novels that some readers shy away from such strapping productions as “Buddenbrooks,” “The Magic Mountain” and “Doctor Faustus,” let alone the four-volume “Joseph and His Brothers.”

From Washington Post

In explicating the Quranic story of Joseph and his brothers, for instance, Miles takes Joseph’s forgiveness of his brothers for selling him into slavery in Egypt as material for a meditation on forgiveness which cites both Beethoven, structurally, and Thomas Mann, thematically.

From The New Yorker