Genesis 19:38

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 19:38 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.
Genesis 19:38 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 19

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
38And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi, etc.] That is, “the son of my people”, being the son of her father; which though it does not so manifestly appear in this name, as in the other, yet there is some trace of it; and she would have it be known by this, that he was not the son of a stranger, but of a relation of her own: some attribute this to her being more modest than her elder sister; but it looks as if neither of them were sensible of any crime they had been guilty of, but rather thought it a commendable action, at least that it was excusable: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day; a people that lived near their brethren the Moabites,…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- The Destruction of Sodom and Amorah 9. גשׁ־הלאה gesh-hāl'âh, “approach to a distant point,” stand back. 11. סנורים sanevērı̂ym, “blindness,” affecting the mental more than the ocular vision. 37. מואב mô'āb, Moab; מאב mē'āb, “from a father.” בן־עמי ben-‛amı̂y, Ben-‘ammi, “son of my people.” עמון ‛amôn, ‘Ammon, “of the people.” This chapter is the continuation and conclusion of the former. It records a part of God’s strange work - strange, because it consists in punishment, and because it is foreign to the covenant of grace. Yet it is closely connected with Abraham’s history, inasmuch as it is a signal chastisement of wickedness in his neighborhood, a memorial of the righteous…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification