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Person Old Testament

Ben-ammi

Ben-ammi was the son of Lot's younger daughter and the ancestor of the Ammonites. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Genesis 19:38.

Why it matters. Son of Lot's younger daughter; father of the Ammonites.

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Ben-ammi

Ben-ammi is mentioned in Gen.19.38 as the son of Lot's younger daughter, born after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The context of the passage is the account of Lot's daughters, who, believing they were the only survivors, decided to have children by their father to preserve their family line. The younger daughter conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she named Ben-ammi, meaning "son of my people." The text states that Ben-ammi became the ancestor of the Ammonites, a neighboring nation to Israel. The Ammonites are later mentioned throughout the Old Testament, often in conflict with the Israelites. The story of Ben-ammi's birth highlights the consequences of Lot's choice to live in Sodom and the moral decline of his family. It also serves as an origin story for the Ammonite people and their relationship to the Israelites.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

No reviewed connections yet.

Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Parents
Lot
Siblings
Moab

Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.