MOURNING, sorrow — the word behind be-oni, in my mourning, the first of the three denials of the tithe oath (Deuteronomy 26:14). It is Rachel's last word: dying, she names her son Ben-oni (Genesis 35:18, already on these pages), and Hosea 9:4 (not yet on these pages) calls a faithless people's sacrifices bread of mourners, adding that all who eat it shall be unclean — which is why the tithe may not be eaten in a house of death. ⚠ The same three letters spell a different word, on meaning strength or vigour: Reuben is the first of my strength (Genesis 49:3) and the firstborn is the first of his vigour (Deuteronomy 21:17, both already on these pages). So Rachel's Ben-oni can be read as son of my sorrow or son of my strength, and Jacob's renaming him settles nothing — the lexicons keep the two words apart, and so does this dictionary. Not the same as oni with an ayin, affliction or poverty. → first discussed at Deut 26:14