StrongerBible

aton

אָתוֹן

HebrewH0860“donkey, she-ass”

Appears 34 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 12:16Gen 32:15(16)Gen 45:23Gen 49:11Num 22:21Num 22:22Num 22:23 (3×)Num 22:25Num 22:27 (2×)Num 22:28Num 22:29Num 22:30 (2×)Num 22:32Num 22:33Jdg 5:101Sa 9:3 (2×)1Sa 9:51Sa 9:201Sa 10:2 (2×)1Sa 10:141Sa 10:162Ki 4:222Ki 4:241Ch 27:30Job 1:3Job 1:14Job 42:12Zec 9:9
Root family
Word studyah-TONEnoun

What aton means

she-ass: the female donkey, a valued animal for riding, breeding, and carrying loads

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word names one animal, the female donkey, and it always means that. Hebrew keeps the female donkey separate from the ordinary or male donkey and from the young colt, and it is the females that turn up again and again as a measure of a person's wealth. Abraham, Jacob, and Job are all credited with herds of she-asses alongside their other livestock, and Jacob sends twenty of them as part of a lavish gift to Esau.

The she-ass was also a mount, and a fairly dignified one. The song of Deborah pictures the well-off riding on white she-asses, and the young Saul spends days crossing the countryside hunting for his father's strays. The most memorable of them is the donkey Balaam rides, the animal that sees the angel her rider cannot and finally speaks to protest his beatings.

Twice the she-ass appears in a poetic pairing with her colt, once in Jacob's blessing of Judah and once in Zechariah's picture of the coming king who arrives humbly on a donkey rather than a war horse. The New Testament takes up that image for Jesus entering Jerusalem, which is why the plain, hardworking donkey carries such weight in these passages.

Gen 12:16Gen 32:15(16)Gen 45:23Gen 49:11Num 22:21Num 22:22Num 22:23 (3×)Num 22:25Num 22:27 (2×)Num 22:28Num 22:29Num 22:30 (2×)

What scholars say about aton

The lexica agree that אָתוֹן denotes the female donkey (she-ass), distinguished from the generic or male חֲמוֹר and the young male colt עַיִר. It functions as a marker of pastoral wealth (Genesis 12:16; Job 1:3; 42:12), as a riding animal of the well-to-do (Judges 5:10), and most memorably as Balaam's mount in Numbers 22. The poetic pairing with עַיִר in Genesis 49:11 and Zechariah 9:9 (its colt) supplies the image the New Testament applies to the triumphal entry. There is no scholarly dispute over the word's meaning.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. אָתוֹןlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. אָתוֹןlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. אָתוֹןlexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of אָתוֹן

f p absolute

אֲתֹנוֹת, אֲתֹנֹת, אֲתוֹנוֹת

Jdg 5:10, 1Sa 9:3, 1Sa 9:5, 1Sa 9:20, 1Sa 10:2, 1Sa 10:2, 1Sa 10:14, 1Sa 10:16

f s absolute

אָתוֹן

Num 22:23, Num 22:23, Num 22:23, Num 22:25, Num 22:27, Num 22:27, Num 22:28, Num 22:29

f s construct

אֲתֹנוֹ

Gen 49:11, Num 22:21, Num 22:22

f s construct

אֲתֹנְךָ

Num 22:30, Num 22:32