What Does Genesis 20:15 Mean?
And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before your face. Settle where it is good in your eyes.
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 Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.THE KEY
The welcome is complete because you remain free to choose where to settle.
THE MEANING
The land lies open before you, and you may settle wherever looks good to you. A place to dwell is offered while your choice of place stays in your hands.
THE ROOT
וְשֵׁב
veshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, inhabit, or settle.
“settle” in this verse is veshev. The root holds settling and remaining together: dwelling is more than being assigned a spot; it is making a place your own. The offer gives room for your presence to take root where you find good.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: One who sits or inhabits; a resident.
יֹשֵׁב
The same root describes both the act of dwelling and the person who makes a place home.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
The root can name not only settling in, but the place where that settled presence takes shape.
אֲבִימֶלֶךְ
Avimelekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
To reign or rule; kingship.
“Abimelech” in this verse is Avimelekh. The name joins av, “father,” and melek, “king”: “my father is king.” Here, the ruler’s offer places land within another person’s choice, presenting authority as the power to make room.
ALSO GROWS
melek: King.
מֶלֶךְ
This is the “king” element in Abimelech’s name, present as the speaker offers the land.
malkhut: Kingship or reign.
מַלְכוּת
It extends the name’s royal element into the nature of rule, which this verse shows creating room for another.
THE PATTERN
Belonging is expressed by making room for another to dwell.
Is not all the land before your face? I pray you, part from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you go to the right hand, then I will go to the left.One thing I ask of the LORD, this I will seek; that I may settle in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the sweetness of the LORD, and to search out in his temple.In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.THE THREAD
One thing I ask of the LORD, this I will seek; that I may settle in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the sweetness of the LORD, and to search out in his temple.“Dwell” in both verses comes from ישב (yashab), the root of sitting, remaining, and inhabiting. Here, a place is offered for Abraham to choose; in the psalm, dwelling becomes a desire for lasting presence.
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