What Does Genesis 14:22 Mean in the King James?
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Abram’s raised hand anchors his allegiance in the One whose possession leaves no part of heaven or earth outside divine reach.
THE MEANING
Your allegiance reaches beyond every human claim because heaven and earth belong to the Most High. The raised hand makes that allegiance visible as an oath, while “possessor” names the One whose holding encompasses the whole world.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that an earthly ruler has the ultimate claim gives way to the verse’s declaration that heaven and earth belong to the Most High.
THE ROOT
קֹנֵה
qōnēh
GROWS FROM
קנה
Acquire, get, possess.
“Possessor” grows from a root of acquiring and holding. Joined to “heaven and earth,” it names the Most High in relation to the whole world: no part lies outside that possession.
ALSO GROWS
qanah: Acquire, get, buy.
קָנָה
The verb at the root of “possessor” shows the active sense of gaining or holding what is named.
miqneh: Livestock, property, acquired possessions.
מִקְנֶה
This concrete branch names what is held, making the root’s connection between possessor and possession visible.
הֲרִימֹתִי
harimōtī
GROWS FROM
רום
Rise, be high, lift up.
“lift up” in this verse is harimōtī. Abram’s hand is physically raised as he makes his oath. The verb’s height imagery echoes עֶלְיוֹן (elyon, “Most High”), which comes from a different root: the raised hand is directed toward the Highest without the two words sharing a root.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, exalted.
רָם
This branch carries the root’s sense of being raised, illuminating the height imagery in Abram’s gesture.
terumah: Contribution, offering set apart.
תְּרוּמָה
This branch names something lifted or set aside, showing how the root can describe an act of raising as well as a state of height.
THE PATTERN
All of creation belongs to God, so every human claim remains within that larger possession.
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’s thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.THE THREAD
And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:Melchizedek names God with the same “possessor” (קֹנֵה, qōnēh) phrase that Abram uses here. The shared root joins blessing and oath: the One who possesses heaven and earth is also the One Abram invokes.
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