Hebrew word · H4309

מַטְרִי

hamatri

Matrite

A clan name, "Matrite", found only in this verse.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of United Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Sa.10.21

§ Matri = "rain of Jehovah"

a family of the tribe of Benjamin to which king Saul belonged

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 Samuel 10:21

Range of meaning

A clan name, "Matrite", found only in this verse.

Against the English

Versions vary only between "Matri" (KJV, BSB) and "the Matrites" (WEB, ESV).

Used elsewhere in the period

Not in any Benjaminite genealogy (Gen 46:21; Num 26:38–41; 1 Chr 7:6–12; 8:1–40). Saul's ancestry in 1 Sam 9:1 goes Kish ← Abiel ← Zeror ← Becorath ← Aphiah. The Greek has Mattari.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 10:21 הַמַּטְרִ֑י <the> Matri

    Then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the clan of Matri was selected. Finally, Saul son of Kish was selected. But when they looked for him, they could not find him.

    Here: "The Matrite" clan. It appears only here and is missing from the Benjaminite clan lists in Genesis 46, Numbers 26 and 1 Chronicles 7–8, and from Saul's family tree in 9:1.

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