What Does Genesis 20:3 Mean in the King James?

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

Genesis 20:3 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The taking does not erase the prior bond: the woman is already married, and the taker is named as already dead.

THE MEANING

An act of taking can hide a bond that already exists, but it cannot undo that bond. The danger is named in the present tense: “thou art but a dead man,” and the marriage is the reason. Even Abimelech (⁨אֲבִימֶלֶךְ⁩, ʾAvimelekh, “my father is king”) stands within a reality his power cannot erase.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

“If I can take her, the prior bond no longer matters.”

THE ROOT

בְּעֻלַת בָּעַל

bəʿulat baʿal

GROWS FROM

בעל

b-ʿ-l

To be a husband or master; to marry or be joined in marriage.

The Hebrew phrase repeats the same root in ⁨בְּעֻלַת בָּעַל⁩ (bəʿulat baʿal, “a married woman, a husband’s wife”). English smooths that repetition away, but the Hebrew makes her existing marriage the very fact that turns the taking into mortal danger.

ALSO GROWS

baʿal: Husband, master, or lord.

בַּעַל

This is the noun repeated in the verse’s phrase for her husband.

bəʿulāh: A married woman.

בְּעוּלָה

This form identifies her as already joined in marriage before she is taken.

מֵת

met

GROWS FROM

מות

m-w-t

To die; death.

The verse calls him ⁨מֵת⁩ (met, “dead”) in the present, rather than only predicting that he will die later. That wording makes the danger feel attached to the act already underway.

ALSO GROWS

māvet: Death.

מָוֶת

This noun carries the same root into the consequence named by the warning.

tāmūt: You will die.

תָּמוּת

This future form contrasts with ⁨מֵת⁩ (met, “dead”), which presents the danger as immediate.

THE PATTERN

An existing marriage bond remains real even when a powerful taker overlooks it, and its violation carries consequences.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:14 · KJVThe command names marital fidelity as a boundary that does not depend on whether the taker recognizes it.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

2 Samuel 12:9 · KJVDavid’s kingship does not hide the taking of Uriah’s wife; the act is named as evil and brought under judgment.

Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

Hebrews 13:4 · KJVThe marriage bond remains weighty and answerable to God, even when its violation is private.

THE THREAD

And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

Genesis 31:24 · KJV

Genesis 31:24 repeats the dream phrase ⁨בַּחֲלוֹם הַלָּיְלָה⁩ (baḥalom hallaylah, “in a dream by night”), including ⁨חֲלוֹם⁩ (ḥalom, “dream”) from the root ⁨חלם⁩ (ḥ-l-m). The shared wording links both warnings: a divine message interrupts a danger already unfolding.

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