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Genesis 35:16-18
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 35:16-18
New Catholic Bible
16 Jacob Endures Painful Times.[a] They then departed from Bethel. They were a short distance outside of Ephrath when Rachel went into labor and she suffered great distress. 17 When her pains were most severe, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for it is another son!” 18 With her last breath, for she was dying, she called him Ben-oni,[b] the son of my sorrow, but his father called him Benjamin.
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- Genesis 35:16 Rachel, Jacob’s preferred wife, dies while giving birth to a son; later, he learns that his eldest son Reuben has committed a grave outrage against him. Thus, Jacob continues to expiate his sin.
- Genesis 35:18 Ben-oni means “Son of my sorrow.” Jacob changes it to Benjamin, “Son of the right hand,” that is, of good omen. This time, the popular etymology agrees with the scientific. But originally the name “son of the right hand” seems to have been inspired by geography: the right hand is the south, because the Semites oriented themselves by looking eastward to where the sun rises; therefore “Benjamin” means “son of the south.”
