What Does Genesis 20:14 Mean in the King James?
And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
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
The Hebrew root behind “restored” means “return,” so the gifts surround the act of returning what had been taken.
THE MEANING
When something precious is displaced, restoration takes concrete form: the person is returned, and tangible provision accompanies that return. The verse holds relational and material repair together, rather than reducing restoration to sentiment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that restoration is only symbolic: here, return is accompanied by tangible provision.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֶׁב
wayyāšeb
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
To return or turn back.
The Hebrew form וַיָּשֶׁב (wayyāšeb, “he returned/restored”) comes from שׁוּב (shuv, “return” or “turn back”). English “restored” can suggest rebuilding; the root keeps the motion of return in view, with the gifts given alongside it.
ALSO GROWS
hēshīv: To cause something or someone to return.
הֵשִׁיב
This form makes clear that restoration can be the act of returning what was displaced.
teshuvah: A return or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch carries the same movement: what has gone away comes back.
THE PATTERN
Repair becomes concrete when what was taken is returned and the loss is materially acknowledged.
Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.The Hebrew verb behind “restoreth” comes from the same שׁוּב (shuv, “return” or “turn back”) root as “restored” here. Its object is נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “living soul”), extending the image of return from a relationship to the living person.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us