What Does Genesis 14:21 Mean?
And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the living souls, and take the goods for yourself.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.THE KEY
The bargain puts a living soul beside property, and the Hebrew names them as two different kinds of things.
THE MEANING
The king divides what is at stake: the persons are claimed for him, while the goods are assigned to Abram. The Hebrew calls the people nefesh, a living soul, and the possessions rekush. The demand exposes how quickly a living person can be spoken of as something to hand over.
THE ROOT
הַנֶּפֶשׁ
ha-nefesh
GROWS FROM
נפש
To recover or be refreshed; as a noun, a living self or person.
The KJV says “persons,” but the Hebrew has the singular “the nefesh,” naming the people collectively as living souls. A related verb means to be refreshed or restored, a connection that keeps the word rooted in living selves rather than cargo.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul; person.
נֶפֶשׁ
It is the noun used here for the people the king claims.
vayyinnaphash: And he rested or was refreshed.
וַיִּנָּפַשׁ
This related verb appears in Exodus 31:17, linking the living self with recovery and rest.
הָרְכֻשׁ
ha-rekhush
GROWS FROM
רכש
To acquire or gather as property.
The goods are called rekhush, a word for acquired possessions. Beside nefesh, the word makes the king’s division stark: living people on one side, accumulated property on the other.
ALSO GROWS
rekhush: Goods; possessions; property.
רְכֻשׁ
It names the material wealth Abram is told to take.
rakhash: To acquire or gain.
רָכַשׁ
The related verb shows the goods as things gathered or possessed.
THE PATTERN
Scripture keeps a living person and material possessions in separate measures: wealth can be held or lost, but it cannot stand in for a life.
Behold, every living soul is mine; as the father's, so also the son's is mine. The living soul that is missing shall die.Riches do not profit on the day of overflowing, but alignment snatches from death.For what does it profit a human, if he gains the whole world and is damaged in his living soul? Or what will a human give in exchange for his living soul?THE THREAD
That I will not take from a thread even to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything of yours, lest you say, I have made Abram rich.The king assigns the people to himself and the goods to Abram; Abram’s reply refuses the material side of that proposed division. The two verses together leave the human claim starkly visible, rather than letting it disappear inside a bargain over wealth.
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