Am I my brother's keeper?

"Am I my brother's keeper?" is a saying from the Bible. It comes from the story of Cain and Abel: After Cain murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was, and Cain answered: "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" These words came into the English language through William Tyndale and his translation of the Bible into English.

The story is in the Torah, a Jewish religious text, and the Bible's Old Testament, a Christian religious text. It is also mentioned parabolically in the Quran, an Islamic religious text, though in it the actual content of the story are assumed to already be known by the reader. It shows not only Cain's wrongness in not looking after his brother's well-being, but his hiding of the terrible crime of fratricide.

 Related pages 
 Good Samaritan
 Love thy neighbour as thyself

 References 

Category:Old Testament