The Bible often uses “sons of” to say who someone belongs to. The phrase can point to a family line, a tribe, a people, a group of followers, or a kind of character. This page lists the main “sons of” phrases, with the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament.
The counts below come from searching the Hebrew text (the Westminster Leningrad Codex, as tagged by Open Scriptures) for the plural form bene (“sons of”) followed directly by the name, and from searching the SBL Greek New Testament for the plural “sons of” phrases. Bible translations often render the same words as “children of”, so English counts are different. The King James Version, for example, mostly has “children of Israel”.
Old Testament
Sons of Israel (בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, benei Yisrael) means the Israelites. It is by far the most common, with 636 cases in the Hebrew text.
Sons of God (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים, benei ha-Elohim) appears 5 times: Genesis 6:2 and 6:4, and Job 1:6, 2:1 and 38:7. Depending on the reading, it means divine beings or righteous men.
Genesis has the best-known use of the phrase.
That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis 6:2, KJV
Sons of Aaron (בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן, benei Aharon) are the priests descended from Aaron, with 49 cases.
Sons of Levi (בְּנֵי לֵוִי, benei Levi) are the Levites, with 27 cases.
Sons of Korah (בְּנֵי קֹרַח, benei Korach) are Korah’s descendants, with 13 cases. Eleven of these are in psalm headings: Psalms 42, 44 to 49, 84, 85, 87 and 88.
Sons of Belial (בְּנֵי בְלִיַּעַל, benei Belial) means worthless or wicked men, with 8 cases. The same idea also appears with “man of Belial” and “daughter of Belial”.
Sons of Ammon (בְּנֵי עַמּוֹן, benei Ammon) are the Ammonites, with 104 cases. The Hebrew nearly always calls this people “sons of Ammon”.
Sons of Moab (בְּנֵי מוֹאָב, benei Moav) appears only once in this exact form. The Bible usually just says “Moab” for the Moabites.
Sons of the prophets (בְּנֵי הַנְּבִיאִים, benei ha-nevi’im) are the followers or students of the prophets, with 11 cases, mostly around Elijah and Elisha.
New Testament
Sons of God (υἱοὶ θεοῦ, huioi theou) here means people who belong to God, as in Matthew 5:9, Romans 8:14, 8:19 and 9:26, Galatians 3:26 and Luke 20:36, about 6 times in all.
Sons of the kingdom (υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας, huioi tēs basileias) appears twice, in Matthew 8:12 and 13:38.
Sons of light (υἱοὶ φωτός, huioi phōtos) appears 3 times, in Luke 16:8, John 12:36 and 1 Thessalonians 5:5.
Sons of thunder (υἱοὶ βροντῆς, huioi brontēs) is the name Jesus gave to James and John, once, in Mark 3:17.
Mark gives the nickname with its Aramaic form.
And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
Mark 3:17, KJV
Sons of the evil one (υἱοὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ, huioi tou ponērou) appears once, in Matthew 13:38, the same verse that names the sons of the kingdom.
Sons of this age (υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, huioi tou aiōnos toutou) means the people of this world. It appears twice, in Luke 16:8 and 20:34.
For the god of the Ammonites, see Who Was Moloch?.
Overview table
The table keeps the original rounded figures. Where they differ from the counts above, the text above gives the checked number.
| Phrase | Old Testament | New Testament |
|---|---|---|
| Sons of Israel | 600 | 0 |
| Sons of God | 5 | 6 |
| Sons of Aaron | 100 | 0 |
| Sons of Levi | 25 | 0 |
| Sons of Korah | 10 | 0 |
| Sons of Belial | 15 | 0 |
| Sons of Ammon | 30 | 0 |
| Sons of Moab | 15 | 0 |
| Sons of the Prophets | 10 | 0 |
| Sons of the Kingdom | 0 | 2 |
| Sons of Light | 0 | 3 |
| Sons of Thunder | 0 | 1 |
| Sons of the Evil One | 0 | 1 |
| Sons of this Age | 0 | 2 |
The counts in the text above were recounted in the Hebrew and replace some figures in this table.
Shepherds, flocks and false gods
This chart maps the “son” and “shepherd” figures of the Bible, and the gods the Bible calls false, with a verse for each.
Elohim
├── Yahweh
│ ├── Shepherd: Abraham
│ │ └── Flock: Hebrews
│ │ └── Son of God (Typological, father of Israel)
│ ├── Shepherd: Moses
│ │ └── Flock: Israelites (Exodus)
│ │ └── Son of Amram (Exodus 6:20)
│ ├── Shepherd: David
│ │ └── Flock: United Kingdom of Israel
│ │ └── Son of Jesse & Son of God (Psalm 2:7)
│ ├── Shepherd: Elijah
│ │ └── Flock: Israelites (Northern Kingdom)
│ │ └── Son of None
│ ├── Shepherd: Isaiah
│ │ └── Flock: Judah
│ │ └── Son of Amoz (Isaiah 1:1)
│ ├── Son: Adam
│ │ └── Son of God (Luke 3:38)
│ └── Son: Israel (Nation)
│ └── Son of God (Exodus 4:22)
├── Abba
│ └── Son: Jesus Christ
│ ├── Shepherd: Jesus (Good Shepherd)
│ │ └── Flock: Disciples/Church (John 10:11)
│ │ └── Son of God (John 3:16)
│ ├── Shepherd: Peter
│ │ └── Flock: Early Church (Jerusalem)
│ │ └── Son of Jonah (Matthew 16:17)
│ └── Shepherd: Paul
│ └── Flock: Gentile Churches
│ └── Son of None
├── Baal
│ └── Wicked Flock: Wayward Israelites (1 Kings 18:18) & Canaanites
│ └── Practices: Idolatry, child sacrifice (Jeremiah 19:5)
├── Asherah
│ └── Wicked Flock: Israelites (2 Kings 23:4) & Canaanites
│ └── Practices: Idol worship, sacred poles (Deuteronomy 16:21)
├── Molech
│ └── Wicked Flock: Ammonites & Wayward Israelites (Leviticus 18:21)
│ └── Practices: Child sacrifice (2 Kings 23:10)
├── Chemosh
│ └── Wicked Flock: Moabites (Numbers 21:29)
│ └── Practices: Human sacrifice (2 Kings 3:27)
├── Dagon
│ └── Wicked Flock: Philistines (1 Samuel 5:2)
│ └── Practices: Idolatry (Judges 16:23)
└── Idols/Unnamed Gods
└── Wicked Flock: Various Nations & Straying Israelites (Isaiah 44:9-20)
└── Practices: Worthless idolatry, delusion (Jeremiah 2:5)
