What Does Genesis 20:8 Mean?
And Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears, and the men feared exceedingly.
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
Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.THE KEY
A word that is also a matter can turn an unseen warning into fear shared by a whole household.
THE MEANING
When a warning reaches everyone’s ears, its weight can move through a whole group at once. Abimelech (אֲבִימֶלֶךְ, ʾAvimelekh, “my father is king”) brings what he has heard to his servants, and they are greatly afraid.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that hearing what is true always feels reassuring: here, the hearers respond with fear.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרִים
devarim
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
To speak; the same word family also names what is spoken, a word, matter, or thing.
“spoke all these words” in this verse is devarim. The Hebrew calls both the speaking and the things spoken by forms of דבר. What reaches the servants’ ears is not detached information; the spoken matter lands with force and becomes a shared response.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke
דִּבֵּר
This is the verb behind Abimelech telling the servants; the speech itself is foregrounded.
davar: Word, matter, thing
דָּבָר
The “things” he tells are from the same root as “he spoke,” joining utterance and matter.
וַיִּירְאוּ
wayyirʾu
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear or stand in awe.
“feared exceedingly” in this verse is wayyirʾu. This root can name both dread and awe, though “sore afraid” here plainly conveys intense fear. English gives the immediate reaction, while the root also carries the wider range of awe before what is beyond one’s control.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾah: Fear, awe
יִרְאָה
The noun shows the same root can name fear as an enduring human response, not only a moment of alarm.
moraʾ: Dread, fear
מוֹרָא
This related noun gives the root’s forceful edge, fitting the servants’ strong reaction.
THE PATTERN
When a divine reality breaks into ordinary awareness, fear can spread through those who hear or see it.
And look, the messenger of the Lord stood over them, and the weight of the Lord shone around them, and they were seized with great fear.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.THE THREAD
And Abraham said, Because I thought, surely there is no awe of God in this place, and they will slay me for my wife's sake.The same Hebrew root, ירא (y-r-ʾ), links the servants’ fear here with Abraham’s words about the fear of God. Within the chapter, fear shifts from an immediate reaction to a way of perceiving whether God is acknowledged.
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