'''Benjamin''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: '''בִּנְיָמִין'''; standard transliteration '''''Binyamin''''', Tiberian vocalization '''''Bínyāmîn''''') is a [[Hebrew Bible]] figure. The name literally translates to "son of right," generally taken to mean "son of my right hand," but in some [[Rabbinical Judaism|rabbinical traditions]] "son of the right side [of the body]" or "son of the south," the youngest son of [[Jacob]] and [[Rachel]] (Genesis 35:18). The "right" direction had the connotation of strength or desirability. In the [[Samaritan Pentateuch]], this name is consistently spelled '''בנימים''' ('''''Binyamim'''''), which may indicate a neutralization of nasal-final endings, or may imply a different analysis, as '''בן ימים''', "son of days", implying the son of Jacob's old age (as he is described in Genesis 44:20).

His birth took place on the road between [[Bethel]] and [[Ephrath]], which is identified with Bethlehem (Genesis 35:19). His mother Rachel died in childbirth, and with her last breath named him ''Ben-oni'' ("son of my pain"), an ill-omened name which was changed by his father into ''Binyamin''. His posterity were the [[tribe of Benjamin]], sometimes translated "Benjamites" (Genesis 49:27; Deuteronomy 33:12; Joshua 18:21).