בֵּן
A son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
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Canonical witness: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
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What does בֵּן (ben) mean in the Bible?
בֵּן (ben) is a Hebrew word meaning "a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)". a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc. The proverb highlights the relational impact of moral character within families. This term runs through the canonical themes of Covenant, Messiah.
Meaning
Son extends metaphorically to designate relationship, condition, quality, and national identity across kinship and covenantal contexts.
a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.) BDB: son Usage: afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, ( ) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, (young) bullock, (young) calf, × came up in, child, colt, × common, × corn, daughter, × of first, firstborn, foal, very fruitful, postage, × in, kid, lamb, ( ) man, meet, mighty, nephew, old, ( ) people, rebel, robber, × servant born, × soldier, son, spark, steward, stranger, × surely, them of, tumultuous one, valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.
Why This Word Matters
The proverb highlights the relational impact of moral character within families. Hosea 1:10-2:1
Calling Judah ‘children’ heightens the tragedy of their rebellion and anticipates the gospel theme that God will form a renewed family through adoption in Christ. Hosea 11:1-7
Shifts identity from estranged to filial. Isaiah 1:1-9
Defines Israel’s covenant identity. Proverbs 10:1
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Canonical Themes
Biblical Occurrences
Each occurrence shows the passage reference, the original language term as it appears in that context, its transliteration, and the contextual sense.
Old Testament Witnesses
Showing 8 of 4942 occurrences in the biblical text.
Appears In
Compound and idiomatic lexemes in which this word is a constituent. Follow a link to study the phrase and its other participating words.