What Does Genesis 26:21 Mean?
And they dug another well, and strove over that also, and he called the name of it Sitnah, the standing-against.
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 they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.THE KEY
The well’s name turns recurring conflict into a presence: opposition is named while the source has still been opened.
THE MEANING
Another well is opened, and contention rises over it again. Sitnah names that opposition, making its recurrence visible without erasing the source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that renewed opposition proves no new source can be opened; here the well is dug again even as contention returns.
THE ROOT
וַיָּרִיבוּ
wayyārîḇû
GROWS FROM
ריב
r-y-b
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
“strove over” in this verse is wayyārîḇû. The word carries the sense of a dispute, not merely friction: the well becomes the ground over which claims are made. The same root can name both the act of contending and the dispute itself.
ALSO GROWS
rîḇ: Dispute, controversy, or legal case.
רִיב
It shows that the contention over the well has the shape of a claim being pressed.
merîḇāh: Strife or quarrel; also the name Meribah.
מְרִיבָה
This branch shows how contention can become a name attached to a place.
שִׂטְנָה
śiṭnāh
GROWS FROM
שׂטן
ś-ṭ-n
To oppose or act as an adversary; to accuse.
“Sitnah, the standing-against” in this verse is śiṭnāh. Sitnah carries the force of opposition or accusation, giving the conflict a sharper name than a passing quarrel. The well’s name makes the adversarial pressure visible in the same place where a source has been opened.
ALSO GROWS
śāṭān: Adversary or accuser.
שָׂטָן
This branch makes clear that Sitnah names opposition as an active presence.
ləśiṭnô: To accuse or oppose him.
לְשִׂטְנוֹ
This verb form shows the root in action: opposition is something done against another.
THE PATTERN
Contention can shape how a place, source, or relationship is named and remembered.
And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The waters are ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, the contending, because they strove with him.And he called the name of the place Massah, the testing, and Meribah, the striving, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, Is the LORD in our midst, or not?And the sharpening between them grew so sharp, that they were set apart from one another, and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus.THE THREAD
And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The waters are ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, the contending, because they strove with him.The previous well is named Esek because they strive over it; this verse repeats the same Hebrew root ריב (r-y-b) for the next well. The naming shifts from contention to Sitnah’s sense of accusation and opposition, carrying the conflict forward in the names of the wells.
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