Kejadian 35:18

35:18 With her dying breath, ¹  she named him Ben-Oni. ²  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ³ 

Hakim-hakim 20:12-13

20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout the tribe ⁴  of Benjamin, saying, “How could such a wicked thing take place? ⁵  20:13 Now, hand over the good-for-nothings ⁶  in Gibeah so we can execute them and purge Israel of wickedness.” ⁷  But the Benjaminites refused to listen to their Israelite brothers.

[35:18]  ¹ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ² sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ³ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[35:18]  sn His father called him Benjamin. There was a preference for giving children good or positive names in the ancient world, and “son of my suffering” would not do (see the incident in 1 Chr 4:9-10), because it would be a reminder of the death of Rachel (in this connection, see also D. Daube, “The Night of Death,” HTR 61 [1968]: 629-32). So Jacob named him Benjamin, which means “son of the [or “my”] right hand.” The name Benjamin appears in the Mari texts. There have been attempts to connect this name to the resident tribe listed at Mari, “sons of the south” (since the term “right hand” can also mean “south” in Hebrew), but this assumes a different reading of the story. See J. Muilenburg, “The Birth of Benjamin,” JBL 75 (1956): 194-201.

[20:12]  ⁴ tc The MT reads the plural, but surely the singular (which is supported by the LXX and Vulgate) is preferable here.

[20:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “What is this wicked thing which happened among you?”

[20:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the men, sons of wickedness.”

[20:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “and burn away wickedness from Israel.”