ben · son

What it means

ben (בֵּן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “son”.

In the plural it can include sons and daughters, and also grandsons and descendants. "Son of..." also says what group someone belongs to ("sons of Israel" = Israelites).

How to say it

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. The male born of a father and mother; in the plural, also sons and daughters.
2. A descendant or member of a people: "sons of Israel".
3. Literally "son of Adam": any person, a mortal.
4. To give someone's age, how long they have lived.
5. An animal's offspring, its little one.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Son. BDB defines it broadly: son, and also one who belongs to a group or has a certain condition. Its feminine is בַּת, “daughter”.

• The son of a father or a mother Genesis 22:22 Samuel 7:14
• In the plural, descendants or members of a people: “the sons of Israel” are the Israelites Exodus 1:7
• “Son of man”: a human being, set over against God Psalms 8:4Ezekiel 2:1
• To give someone's age: literally “son of seventy-five years” Genesis 12:4Genesis 5:32
• The young of an animal: “son of the herd”, a young bull Leviticus 1:5

How we translate it

“Sons” 2484 times and “son” 1932. Like the Hebrew, this edition writes “sons” also when grandsons or later descendants are meant; where the word speaks of the young generation in general it says “children” (138 times). Age, which in Hebrew is “son of… years”, is said in English “was… years old” (“old” 120 times). This edition's glossary keeps “son of man” (בֶּן אָדָם) and renders the plural “human beings” (43 times). “Young bull” translates “son of the herd”.

How it is translated

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

• sons ×2484
• son ×1932
• children ×138
• old ×120
• young ×57
• human beings ×43
• twenty ×22
• men ×18
• was ×16
• Ben-hinnom ×10
• others ×92

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×365
• Exodus×233
• Leviticus×160
• Numbers×611
• Deuteronomy×127
• Joshua×243
• Judges×204
• Ruth×8
• 1 Samuel×139
• 2 Samuel×207
• 1 Kings×183
• 2 Kings×222
• 1 Chronicles×707
• 2 Chronicles×234
• Ezra×197
• Nehemiah×246
• Esther×15
• Job×36
• Psalms×102
• Proverbs×60
• Ecclesiastes×16
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×84
• Jeremiah×229
• Lamentations×4
• Ezekiel×191
• Daniel×9
• Hosea×24
• Joel×15
• Amos×11
• Obadiah×2
• Jonah×3
• Micah×6
• Zephaniah×8
• Haggai×10
• Zechariah×13
• Malachi×6

• Genesis 3:16

  To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your toil and your pregnancies; with pain you will give birth to children; and toward your husband will be your desire, and he will rule over you.”

• Genesis 4:17

  And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

• Genesis 4:25

  And Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, “for Elohim has granted me another offspring in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”

• Genesis 4:26

  And to Seth, to him also, a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. Then people began to call on the name of YHWH.

• Genesis 5:4

  And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years; and he fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:7

  And Seth lived after he fathered Enosh eight hundred and seven years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:10

  And Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan eight hundred and fifteen years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:13

  And Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:16

  And Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared eight hundred and thirty years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:19

  And Jared lived after he fathered Enoch eight hundred years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:22

  And Enoch walked with Elohim after he fathered Methuselah three hundred years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:26

  And Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech seven hundred and eighty-two years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:28

  And Lamech lived one hundred and eighty-two years and fathered a son.

• Genesis 5:30

  And Lamech lived after he fathered Noah five hundred and ninety-five years and fathered sons and daughters.

• Genesis 5:32

  And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

• Genesis 6:2

  that the sons of Elohim saw that the daughters of human beings were beautiful; and they took for themselves wives from all whom they chose.

• Genesis 6:4

  The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of Elohim went in to the daughters of human beings and they bore children to them; they were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

• Genesis 6:10

  And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

• Genesis 6:18

  But I will establish my covenant with you; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons with you.

• Genesis 7:6

  And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came, waters on the earth.

• Genesis 7:7

  And Noah went into the ark, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him, because of the waters of the flood.

• Genesis 7:13

  On that very day Noah went into the ark, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah and the three wives of his sons with them,

• Genesis 8:16

  “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons with you.

• Genesis 8:18

  And Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him.

• Genesis 9:1

  And Elohim blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

• Genesis 9:8

  And Elohim spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,

• Genesis 9:18

  And the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and Ham was the father of Canaan.

• Genesis 9:19

  These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was spread out.

• Genesis 9:24

  And Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him.

• Genesis 10:1

  And these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and sons were born to them after the flood.

• Genesis 10:2

  The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

• Genesis 10:3

  And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

• Genesis 10:4

  And the sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

• Genesis 10:6

  And the sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

• Genesis 10:7

  And the sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

• Genesis 10:20

  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations.

• 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 10:22

  The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram.

• Genesis 10:23

  And the sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.

• 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.

And 4892 more times.