Genesis 35:18

With her dying breath, ¹  she named him Ben-Oni. ²  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ³ 

As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.

It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named him Ben–oni; the baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin.

With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).

And in the hour when her life went from her (for death came to her), she gave the child the name Ben-oni: but his father gave him the name of Benjamin.

As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben–Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

With her dying breath, ¹  she named him Ben-Oni. ²  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ³ 

¹ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

² sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

³ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

sn His father called him Benjamin. There was a preference for giving children good or positive names in the ancient world, and “son of my suffering” would not do (see the incident in 1 Chr 4:9-10), because it would be a reminder of the death of Rachel (in this connection, see also D. Daube, “The Night of Death,” HTR 61 [1968]: 629-32). So Jacob named him Benjamin, which means “son of the [or “my”] right hand.” The name Benjamin appears in the Mari texts. There have been attempts to connect this name to the resident tribe listed at Mari, “sons of the south” (since the term “right hand” can also mean “south” in Hebrew), but this assumes a different reading of the story. See J. Muilenburg, “The Birth of Benjamin,” JBL 75 (1956): 194-201.