Hebrew word · H203

אוֹן

ve'on

On

A personal name, attested only here. ʾôn is also the common noun for "vigor, strength, wealth" (Genesis 49:3, where it is used of Reuben himself: "the firstfruits of my vigor").

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, only mentioned at Num.16.1;

son of: Peleth (H6431)

§ On = "wealth" or "vigour"

a chief of the tribe of Reuben

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 Numbers 16:1

Range of meaning

A personal name, attested only here. ʾôn is also the common noun for "vigor, strength, wealth" (Genesis 49:3, where it is used of Reuben himself: "the firstfruits of my vigor").

Against the English

English versions all give "On son of Peleth." None of them reflect that he disappears from the rest of the narrative.

Used elsewhere in the period

On is absent from verse 12 onward and from the summaries in Numbers 26, Deuteronomy 11 and Psalm 106. Rabbinic tradition (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 109b–110a) fills the silence with a story that On's wife talked him out of the revolt. Modern critics suggest textual corruption, perhaps of "Pallu" (Eliab's father) into "On son of Peleth," which would make the whole Reubenite clause read differently.

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 16:1 וְא֥וֹן and On

    Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted

    Here: A third Reubenite. He is named here and never again in the story or anywhere else in the Bible. The name looks like the noun for "vigor" or "wealth."

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