What Does Genesis 21:25 Mean?
And Abraham argued with Abimelech about a well of waters, which Abimelech's servants had torn away.
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 Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.THE KEY
The root beneath “violently taken away” names the deed as robbery, so the dispute concerns a seized source of life.
THE MEANING
A well’s water sustains life, and seizing it by force leaves a visible injustice. The matter is brought directly before Abimelech (אֲבִימֶלֶךְ, Avimelekh, “my father is king”), placing the taking in the hearing of power.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The taking does not become rightful because powerful people commit it or benefit from it.
THE ROOT
גָּזְלוּ
gazelu
GROWS FROM
גזל
To rob, plunder, or seize by force.
“torn away” in this verse is gazelu. The verb carries the sense of robbery: the servants’ act is named as a forceful taking. That root makes the well’s seizure legible as an injustice, not only a conflict over possession.
ALSO GROWS
gazal: to rob or seize by force
גָּזַל
This verb form names the act at the center of the verse.
gezelah: robbery; property taken by force
גְּזֵלָה
The related noun names the taking as a recognizable kind of injustice.
וְהוֹכִיחַ
vehochiach
GROWS FROM
יכח
To decide, prove, or reprove a matter.
“argued with” in this verse is vehochiach. This root ranges from proving or deciding a matter to reproving someone. Abraham’s words bring the seizure into the open before the person whose servants carried it out.
ALSO GROWS
hokhiach: to prove, rebuke, or reprove
הוֹכִיחַ
This is the verb used for Abraham confronting Abimelech.
tokhechah: reproof or correction
תּוֹכֵחָה
The related noun shows reproof as a direct naming of what needs to be addressed.
THE PATTERN
Taking what sustains or belongs to another remains an accountable act, even when force protects the taking.
And the shepherds came and drove them off, but Moses rose and delivered them, and watered their flock.Some push back the landmarks; they tear away flocks and feed on them.And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of what I have to the emptied, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I give back fourfold."THE THREAD
Do not tear away from the emptied, for he is emptied; and do not crush the bowed one in the gate.The word translated “Rob” uses גזל (gazal, “to rob”), the same root as the servants’ taking of Abraham’s well. The shared root connects the seized water to a wider scriptural naming of forceful taking as an accountable injury.
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