בִּנְיָמִין
Benjamin
BDB lists 5 entries for ‘Benjamin’ fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H1144 appears in the Book of Judges — 42 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Judges
- Judges 1:21 בִנְיָמִ֑ן בִנְיָמִן֙ n Proper n Proper The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
- Judges 5:14 בִנְיָמִ֖ין n Proper Out of Ephraim [came down] they whose root is in Amalek; After you, Benjamin, among your peoples; Out of Machir came down governors, Out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal's staff.
- Judges 10:9 וּ/בְ/בִנְיָמִ֖ין conj + prep + n Proper The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
- Judges 19:14 לְ/בִנְיָמִֽן prep + n Proper So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
- Judges 20:3 בִנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The children of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass?
- Judges 20:4 לְ/בִנְיָמִ֔ן prep + n Proper The Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered, I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge.
- Judges 20:10 בִּנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper and we will take ten men of one hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and one hundred of one thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to get food for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have worked in Israel.
- Judges 20:12 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is happen among you?
- Judges 20:13 בִּנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brothers the children of Israel.
- Judges 20:14 בִנְיָמִ֛ן n Proper The children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel.
- Judges 20:15 בִנְיָמִ֜ן n Proper The children of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men.
- Judges 20:17 מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֔ן prep + n Proper The men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew sword: all these were men of war.
- Judges 20:18 בִנְיָמִ֑ן n Proper The children of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God; and they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the children of Benjamin? Yahweh said, Judah [shall go up] first.
- Judges 20:20 בִּנְיָמִ֑ן n Proper The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin; and the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah.
- Judges 20:21 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day Twenty-two thousand men.
- Judges 20:23 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The children of Israel went up and wept before Yahweh until even; and they asked of Yahweh, saying, Shall I again draw near to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? Yahweh said, Go up against him.
- Judges 20:24 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day.
- Judges 20:25 בִנְיָמִ֨ן n Proper Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword.
- Judges 20:28 בִנְיָמִ֥ן n Proper and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? Yahweh said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver him into your hand.
- Judges 20:30 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times.
- Judges 20:31 בִנְיָמִן֙ n Proper The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
- Judges 20:32 בִנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper The children of Benjamin said, They are struck down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways.
- Judges 20:35 בִּנְיָמִן֮ בְּ/בִנְיָמִן֙ n Proper prep + n Proper Yahweh struck Benjamin before Israel; and the children of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men: all these drew the sword.
- Judges 20:36 בִנְיָמִ֖ן לְ/בִנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper prep + n Proper So the children of Benjamin saw that they were struck; for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin, because they trusted to the liers-in-wait whom they had set against Gibeah.
- Judges 20:39 וּ/בִנְיָמִ֡ן conj + n Proper The men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to strike and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons; for they said, Surely they are struck down before us, as in the first battle.
- Judges 20:40 בִּנְיָמִן֙ n Proper But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them; and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to the sky.
- Judges 20:41 בִּנְיָמִ֑ן n Proper The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed; for they saw that evil had come on them.
- Judges 20:43 בִּנְיָמִן֙ n Proper They enclosed the Benjamites round about, [and] chased them, [and] trod them down at [their] resting-place, as far as over against Gibeah toward the sunrise.
- Judges 20:44 מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֔ן prep + n Proper There fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men; all these [were] men of valor.
- Judges 20:46 מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֗ן prep + n Proper So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword; all these [were] men of valor.
- Judges 20:48 בִנְיָמִן֙ n Proper The men of Israel turned again on the children of Benjamin, and struck them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found: moreover all the cities which they found they set on fire.
- Judges 21:1 לְ/בִנְיָמִ֖ן prep + n Proper Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin as wife.
- Judges 21:6 בִּנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper The children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
- Judges 21:13 בִנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper The whole congregation sent and spoke to the children of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.
- Judges 21:14 בִּנְיָמִן֙ n Proper Benjamin returned at that time; and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh Gilead: and yet so they weren't enough for them.
- Judges 21:15 לְ/בִנְיָמִ֑ן prep + n Proper The people repented them for Benjamin, because that Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
- Judges 21:16 מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֖ן prep + n Proper Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for those who remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?
- Judges 21:17 לְ/בִנְיָמִ֑ן prep + n Proper They said, There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel.
- Judges 21:18 לְ/בִנְיָמִֽן prep + n Proper However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the children of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.
- Judges 21:20 בִנְיָמִ֖ן n Proper They commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards,
- Judges 21:21 בִּנְיָמִֽן n Proper and see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come you out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.
- Judges 21:23 בִנְיָמִ֔ן n Proper The children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off: and they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and lived in them.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
“Benjamin” is the headline sense of the Hebrew name בנימין (Binyâmîyn). First canonically at Genesis 35:18, it enters the text early. With 160 verses in 19 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Judges, which alone accounts for 26% of its uses. The sections below give every occurrence and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1144 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 160
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 160 distinct verses.
- 19 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #273
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 273 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 160 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Judges 42 verses 26%
- Genesis 16 verses 10%
- 1 Chronicles 16 verses 10%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 160 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 89 verses · 56%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 42 verses · 26%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 29 verses · 18%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Benjamin 147×, Benjamin's 3×, Against benjamin 2×
- American Standard Version: Benjamin 146×, Against benjamin 2×, Belongeth to benjamin 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Benjamin 114×, Benjamites 11×, Benjamite 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Benjamin 156×, Is to benjamin 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1144 across 161 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1144 across 160 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1144 across 139 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 28 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1144 across 161 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. youngest son of Jacob, so called by him, but by Rachel, the mother, who died at Benjamin’s birth, called בֶּן־אוֹנִי (q.v.) Gn 35:18; own brother of Joseph Gn 35:24; 42:4; 43:29; 45:12; cf. 42:36; 45:15, 34 +; name of tribe of Benjamin Nu 1:11 Dt 27:12; 33:12 Ju 5:14 + 23 times Ju; 32 times S K Chr; Ho 5:8 Ez 48:23 Ob 19 ψ 68:28; 80:3; בְּנֵי בנימן (lit. Gn 46:21) of tribe Nu 1:36; 2:22; 7:60; 26:38, 41 Jos 18:20, 28 Ju 20:3, 14, 15, 18, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30, 31, 32, 36, 48; 21:13, 20, 23 2 S 2:25; 4:2; 23:29 1 Ch 8:40; 9:3, 7; 11:31; 12:17, 30 Ne 11:4, 7, 31 Je 6:1; Ju 21(×2) (but בני יהודה in ‖ Jos 15:63 cf. BuRS 7); explicitly מַטֵּה בִנְיָמִן Nu 1:37; 2:22; 13:9; 34:21 Jos 21:4 1 Ch 6:45 cf. Jos 21:17; מַטֵּה בְנֵי ב׳ Nu 10:24 Jos 18:11, 21 1 Ch 6:50; שֵׁבֶט ב׳ 1 S 10:20, 21 1 K 12:21; observe also כָּל־שִׁבְטֵי ב׳ Ju 20:12 cf. 1 S 9:21; אִישׁ בִּנְיָמִן Ju 20:41 1 S 4:12 cf. אִישׁ מִבִּן־יָ֯מִין 1 S 9:1; אֶרֶץ בִּנְיָמִן Ju 21:21 1 S 9:16 2 S 21:14 Je 1:1; 17:26; 32:44; 33:13; 37:12 cf. 32:8; גְּבוּל ב׳ 1 S 10:2 Ez 48:22 (del. Co) v 24; בֵּית בִּנְיָמִן 2 S 3:19; בֵּית יְהוּדָה וּב׳ 1 K 12:23 2 Ch 11:1; in name of a temple-gate שַׁעַר ב׳ הָעֶלְיוֹן Je 20:2 cf. 37:13; 38:7 Ez 48:32 Zc 14:10. e.g. Genesis 35:18
- 2. a son of Bilhan and great-grandson of Benjamin 1. 1 Ch 7:10. e.g. 1 Chronicles 7:10
- 3. a Jew of Ezra’s time Ezr 10:32 cf. Ne 3:23; 12:34—בנימן בני קרץ 1 Ch 9:4 Kt read with Qr בָּנִי מִן־בְּנֵי פ׳. e.g. Ezra 10:32
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
Gn 35:18 +; usually בִּנְיָמִן n.pr.m.166 (son of (the) right hand)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from בן (bên) (H1121) — son.
Forms in the corpus
The 69 distinct written forms H1144 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| בִנְיָמִ֖ן | Noun, Proper | Joshua 18:11 | 12 |
| בִנְיָמִ֑ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 6:65 | 11 |
| בִנְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 11:31 | 10 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֑ן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 43:15 | 9 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֗ן | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 48:24 | 7 |
| בִּנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 44:12 | 7 |
| בִּנְיָמִן֙ | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 48:32 | 7 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | Ezra 1:5 | 7 |
| בִנְיָמִן֙ | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 12:16 | 6 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 48:22 | 5 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֑ן | Noun, Proper | Ezra 4:1 | 5 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 27:12 | 4 |
| בִנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 45:14 | 3 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֖ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 15:22 | 3 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֛ן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 43:34 | 3 |
| לְ/בִנְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 27:21 | 3 |
| מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 2:31 | 3 |
| בִנְיָמִ֑ין | Noun, Proper | Genesis 45:12 | 2 |
| בִנְיָמִ֗ן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 46:21 | 2 |
| בִנְיָמִ֛ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 12:29 | 2 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֑ין | Noun, Proper | Genesis 43:14 | 2 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֜ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Samuel 21:14 | 2 |
| בִּנְיָמִין֙ | Noun, Proper | Genesis 42:4 | 2 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֖ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Chronicles 11:3 | 2 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֗ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Chronicles 11:1 | 2 |
| לְ/בִנְיָמִ֑ן | Noun, Proper | Judges 21:15 | 2 |
| לְ/בִנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | Judges 19:14 | 2 |
| בִנְיָמִ֖ין | Noun, Proper | Judges 5:14 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִ֜ן | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:15 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִ֥ן | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:28 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִ֧ן | Noun, Proper | Joshua 18:20 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִ֨ן | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:25 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִֽין | Noun, Proper | Genesis 35:18 | 1 |
| בִנְיָמִן֮ | Noun, Proper | Numbers 26:38 | 1 |
| בִניָמִ֗ן | Noun, Proper | Jeremiah 6:1 | 1 |
| בְּ/בִנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 4:18 | 1 |
| בְּ/בִנְיָמִן֙ | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:35 | 1 |
| בְּנְיָמִ֥ן | Noun, Proper | Ezra 10:32 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֗ין | Noun, Proper | Jeremiah 32:8 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֣ין | Noun, Proper | Genesis 43:29 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֣ן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 42:36 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֥ן | Noun, Proper | Ezekiel 48:23 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִ֨ן | Noun, Proper | Psalms 68:27 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִֽין | Noun, Proper | Hosea 5:8 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִין֒ | Noun, Proper | Genesis 43:16 | 1 |
| בִּנְיָמִן֮ | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:35 | 1 |
| בני/מן | Preposition | 1 Chronicles 9:4 | 1 |
| וּ/בְ/בִנְיָמִ֑ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Chronicles 11:10 | 1 |
| וּ/בְ/בִנְיָמִ֖ין | Noun, Proper | Judges 10:9 | 1 |
| וּ/בְנְיָמִֽן | Noun, Proper | Exodus 1:3 | 1 |
| וּ/בִ֨נְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 8:1 | 1 |
| וּ/בִנְיָ֘מִ֤ן | Noun, Proper | Psalms 80:2 | 1 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֑ין | Noun, Proper | 1 Kings 12:23 | 1 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֛ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Chronicles 31:1 | 1 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֡ן | Noun, Proper | Judges 20:39 | 1 |
| וּ/בִנְיָמִ֨ן | Noun, Proper | Ezra 10:9 | 1 |
| וּ/לְ/בִנְיָמִ֤ן | Noun, Proper | Genesis 45:22 | 1 |
| וּ/מִ/בִּנְיָמִ֗ן | Noun, Proper | 2 Chronicles 14:8 | 1 |
| וּ֠/בִנְיָמִן | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 7:10 | 1 |
| לְ/בִ֨נְיָמִ֔ן | Noun, Proper | Numbers 1:11 | 1 |
The 60 most common forms are shown; 9 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1144, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- בן Bên H1122 Ben
- בןאבינדב Ben-ʼĂbîynâdâb H1125 Ben-Abinadab
- בןאוני Ben-ʼÔwnîy H1126 Ben-oni
- בןגבר Ben-Geber H1127 Ben-geber
- בןדקר Ben-Deqer H1128 Ben-dekar
- בןהדד Ben-Hădad H1130 Ben-hadad
- בןזוחת Ben-Zôwchêth H1132 Ben-zoheth
- בןחור Ben-Chûwr H1133 Ben-hur
- בןחיל Ben-Chayil H1134 Ben-hail
- בןחנן Ben-Chânân H1135 Ben-hanan
- בןחסד Ben-Cheçed H1136 Ben-hesed
- בניברק Bᵉnêy-Bᵉraq H1139 Bene-barak
- בני יעקן Bᵉnêy Yaʻăqân H1142 Bene-jaakan
- בנינו Bᵉnîynûw H1148 Beninu
- בןעמי Ben-ʻAmmîy H1151 Ben-ami
- Βενιαμιν Beniamín G958 Benjamin
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 20 — not the complete family. 16 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Benjamin). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
Son of my right hand. (1.) The younger son of Jacob by Rachel (Gen. 35:18). His birth took place at Ephrath, on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, at a short distance from the latter place. His mother died in giving him birth, and with her last breath named him Ben-oni, son of my pain, a name which was changed by his father into Benjamin. His posterity are called Benjamites (Gen. 49:27; Deut. 33:12; Josh. 18:21).
The tribe of Benjamin at the Exodus was the smallest but one (Num. 1:36, 37; Ps. 68:27). During the march its place was along with Manasseh and Ephraim on the west of the tabernacle. At the entrance into Canaan it counted 45,600 warriors. It has been inferred by some from the words of Jacob (Gen. 49:27) that the figure of a wolf was on the tribal standard. This tribe is mentioned in Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5.
The inheritance of this tribe lay immediately to the south of that of Ephraim, and was about 26 miles in length and 12 in breadth. Its eastern boundary was the Jordan. Dan intervened between it and the Philistines. Its chief towns are named in Josh. 18:21-28.
The history of the tribe contains a sad record of a desolating civil war in which they were engaged with the other eleven tribes. By it they were almost exterminated (Judg. 20:20, 21; 21:10). (See GIBEAH.)
The first king of the Jews was Saul, a Benjamite. A close alliance was formed between this tribe and that of Judah in the time of David (2 Sam. 19:16, 17), which continued after his death (1 Kings 11:13; 12:20). After the Exile these two tribes formed the great body of the Jewish nation (Ezra 1:5; 10:9).
The tribe of Benjamin was famous for its archers (1 Sam. 20:20, 36; 2 Sam. 1:22; 1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2) and slingers (Judge. 20:6).
The gate of Benjamin, on the north side of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:13; 38:7; Zech. 14:10), was so called because it led in the direction of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. It is called by Jeremiah (20:2) "the high gate of Benjamin;" also "the gate of the children of the people" (17:19). (Comp. 2 Kings 14:13.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(son of the right hand, fortunate).
+ The youngest of the children of Jacob. His birth took place on the road between Bethel and Bethlehem, near the latter, B.C. 1729. His mother, Rachel, died in the act of giving him birth, naming him with her last breath Ben-oni (son of my sorrow). This was by Jacob changed into Benjamin. (Genesis 35:16,18) Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and Jacob himself into Egypt we hear nothing of Benjamin. Nothing personal is known of him. Henceforward the history of Benjamin is the history of the tribe. + A man of the tribe of Benjamin, son of bilhan, and the head of a family of warriors. (1 Chronicles 7:10) + One of the "sons of Harim," an Israelite in the time of Ezra who had married a foreign wife. (Ezra 10:32)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
son of the right hand
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 153 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 160 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 35:18
- Exodus 1:3
- Numbers 1:11
- Deuteronomy 27:12
- Joshua 18:11
- Judges 1:21
- 1 Samuel 4:12
- 2 Samuel 2:9
- 1 Kings 4:18
- 1 Chronicles 2:2
- 2 Chronicles 11:1
- Ezra 1:5
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
