Dictionary:בֵּן/0

בֵּן

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בֵּן

Part of Speech	Noun
Occurrences
Possible Meanings	Biological son Grandson or descendant
Related Words	_

Possible Meanings

1. Biological son

• Biblical verses –
• Additional data –

2. Grandson or descendant¹

• Bereshit 29:5 – "וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם הַיְדַעְתֶּם אֶת לָבָן בֶּן נָחוֹר וַיֹּאמְרוּ יָדָעְנוּ" – Yaakov asks the people of Charan if they knew Lavan ben Nachor, even though Lavan is the son of Betuel and only the grandson of Nachor.
• Shemuel II 19:25 – "וּמְפִבֹשֶׁת בֶּן שָׁאוּל יָרַד לִקְרַאת הַמֶּלֶךְ וְלֹא עָשָׂה רַגְלָיו וְלֹא עָשָׂה שְׂפָמוֹ וְאֶת בְּגָדָיו לֹא כִבֵּס לְמִן הַיּוֹם לֶכֶת הַמֶּלֶךְ עַד הַיּוֹם אֲשֶׁר בָּא בְשָׁלוֹם" – The verse says that Mephiboshet is the son of Shaul when he is the son of Yehonatan the son of Shaul.²
• Bereshit 31:43 – "וַיַּעַן לָבָן וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל יַעֲקֹב הַבָּנוֹת בְּנֹתַי וְהַבָּנִים בָּנַי וְהַצֹּאן צֹאנִי וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה רֹאֶה לִי הוּא וְלִבְנֹתַי מָה אֶעֱשֶׂה לָאֵלֶּה הַיּוֹם אוֹ לִבְנֵיהֶן אֲשֶׁר יָלָדוּ"
• Rut 4:17 – the neighbors said that Naomi had a child, when really it was her daughter-in-law, Rut, who had the child.
• Daniel 5:22 – "‏(ואנתה) [וְאַנְתְּ] בְּרֵהּ בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר לָא הַשְׁפֵּלְתְּ לִבְבָךְ כָּל קֳבֵל דִּי כָל דְּנָה יְדַעְתָּ" – see above.
• Similarly, "אַב" sometimes mean grandfather.
• See also נכד and נין. While Modern Hebrew defines the former as a grandson and the latter as a great-grandson, their Biblical meaning is unclear.³

3.

• Biblical verses –
• Additional data –

Semantic Evolution

Intra-Biblical

Rabbinic Hebrew

Modern Hebrew

¹ See Ibn Ezra (Shemot Long Commentary 2:16-21) and Ramban (Shemot 2:16).

² Interestingly, Shaul also had a son named Mephiboshet (see Shemuel II 21:8). However, the context of this chapter makes it clear that this Mephiboshet is the son of Yehonatan.

³ For elaboration, see S. Sharvit, "ה"נין" וה"נכד" - מן המקרא ללשון ימינו", ‎עיוני מקרא ופרשנות ח (Ramat Gan, 2008): 165-174.