Bible Lexicons

בֶּטֶן f. (as being a female member, see No. 2, compare Arab. رَحْمُ and Lat. cunnus, which are fem. for the same reason), with suff. בִּטְנִי.

(1) the belly, so called as being hollow and empty, compare Gr. κενεών, λαγών, κοιλία. (Arab. بَطْنُ id., بَدَنُ body, especially a corpse; Eth. በድን፡ a corpse.) Used of the exterior belly of men, Song of Solomon 7:3 or of beasts, Job 40:16 but mostly used of the inside of the belly, both as the place filled with food, Proverbs 13:25, 18:20 Job 20:20; Ecclesiastes 11:5; Ezekiel 3:3, and as the place where the fœtus is conceived and formed. Hence

(2) the womb; Genesis 25:23, 24 Genesis 25:24מִן־הַבֶּטֶן Judges 13:5, Judges 13:7מִבֶּטֶן Isaiah 48:8, 49:1, and more fully מִבֶּטֶן אִמִּי Psalms 22:10; Judges 16:17 from the womb and onward; and hyperbol. for, from tenderest years, Job 31:18. פְּרִי בֶטֶן offspring, progeny, Genesis 30:2; Deuteronomy 7:13; Isaiah 13:18; Micah 6:7, always used of the offspring already born, not of the fœtus also followed by a genit. of the father (Mic. loc. cit.) [“בֶּטֶן מְלָאָה uterus gravidus”]. Used of a single son, בַּר בִּטְנִי “son of my womb,” Proverbs 31:2, where the suffix refers to the mother; but Job 3:10, בִּטְנִי “my womb,” is “the womb of my mother;” and בְּנֵי בִטְנִי Job 19:17, is not apparently to be understood of Job’s sons (for they were dead, Job 1:19, compare Job 29:5); but prob. his uterine brothers, ἀδελφοί (compare Psalms 69:9).

(3) the inside, inmost part, of any thing, i.q. קֶרֶב. בֶּטֶן שְׁאוֹל the lowest part of Hades, Jonah 2:3. Especially used of one’s inmost breast; Job 15:35, 32:18 Proverbs 22:18. חַדְרֵי בֶטֶן the lowest depths of the breast, Proverbs 18:8, 20:27, 30 Proverbs 20:30, 26:22 Habakkuk 3:16, וַתִּרְנז בִּטְנִי “and my bowels trembled.” Compare κοιλία, Sir_51:21 Joh_7:38.

(4) a protuberance of a column, like a belly, 1 Kings 7:20.

(5) [Beten], pr.n. of a town of the Asherites (perhaps “valley,” i.q. بَطْنُ κοιλάς), Joshua 19:25.