Hebrew word · H1122

בֵּן

ben

Ben

The word normally means 'son,' and in names it is followed by the father's name ('Heman son of Joel,' v. 17). Strong's lists it as a proper name only because of this verse.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 07, 2026

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.15.18

§ Ben = "son"

a Levite, one of the porters appointed by David for the ark

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of 1 Chronicles 15:18

Range of meaning: The word normally means 'son,' and in names it is followed by the father's name ('Heman son of Joel,' v. 17). Strong's lists it as a proper name only because of this verse.
Against the English: KJV, WEB and YLT keep 'Ben' as a separate person. BSB and many modern versions leave it out. Readers of different Bibles will therefore count a different number of musicians.
Used elsewhere in the period: No person called 'Ben' appears anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The parallel list in v. 20 goes straight from Zechariah to Aziel, and the Septuagint lacks the word here.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

1 Chronicles 15:18 בֵּ֡ן Ben

and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

Here: The word means 'son,' and here it stands with no name after it. It is missing from the matching list in v. 20 and from the Greek, so it is most likely a copying slip or the remains of a name that dropped out, not a real person called 'Ben.'

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.