Hebrew word · H74
אֲבִינֵר
'aviner
Abner
A personal name made of avi, 'my father', and ner, 'lamp, light' or the personal name Ner. Possible meanings are 'my father is Ner', 'my father is a lamp' and 'Ner is my father'. Names built on 'father' or 'brother' often refer to God as the family's divine kinsman.
Appears 63 times in 53 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
A man of the tribe of Benjamin living at the time of United Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Sa.14.50;
son of: Ner (H5369);
father of: Jaasiel (H3300H)
§ Abner = "my father is a lamp"
Saul's cousin and army captain, treacherously slain by Joab
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 14:50
- Range of meaning
A personal name made of avi, 'my father', and ner, 'lamp, light' or the personal name Ner. Possible meanings are 'my father is Ner', 'my father is a lamp' and 'Ner is my father'. Names built on 'father' or 'brother' often refer to God as the family's divine kinsman.
- Against the English
English versions use 'Abner' throughout and so smooth over the unique spelling Abiner in this verse.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only place with the spelling Abiner. Everywhere else in Samuel and Kings it is Abner. The Greek Septuagint usually has Abennēr.
Where it appears
1 Samuel · 13
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2 Samuel · 46
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1 Kings · 2
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1 Chronicles · 2
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Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.