Gazal describes taking, robbing or stripping away, with the object and setting revealing the act. Abraham complains about a well seized by Abimelech's servants, and the following agreement gives their dispute a concrete witness.
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Reader summary
Full entry for גָּזַל (H1497) · Open the biblical lexicon
Gazal describes taking, robbing or stripping away, with the object and setting revealing the act. Abraham complains about a well seized by Abimelech's servants, and the following agreement gives their dispute a concrete witness.
The BSB source-word alignment has 30 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (2), snatched (2), the victim of robbery (2), [that are] stolen (1), and committed robbery (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 21:25. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (5), Job (4), Proverbs (3), Deuteronomy (2).
Gazal describes taking, robbing or stripping away, with the object and setting revealing the act. Abraham complains about a well seized by Abimelech's servants, and the following agreement gives their dispute a concrete witness. Leviticus requires return of what was taken and forbids robbing a neighbor or withholding a worker's wages. Jeremiah calls rulers to rescue the victim of robbery and protect the foreigner, orphan and widow from wrong and violence.
Psalm 69 voices a different position: the speaker must repay despite not having stolen, exposing unjustly imposed responsibility. Judges 21 describes women carried away to provide wives after a devastating conflict; its account is not a divine authorization for abduction or coerced marriage. The verb makes the taking visible without requiring approval of its agent.
Responsible teaching identifies who takes what from whom, preserves the testimony of those harmed and connects repentance with restitution rather than a convenient religious renaming of seizure.
The selected robbing clauses describe a seized well, required return, neighbor and wage protection, rescue of a robbery victim, unjust repayment and women carried away.
But when Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well that Abimelech’s servants had seized,
Abraham complains about servants seizing a well, and the following agreement and witness address the disputed resource rather than spiritualizing it.
Once he has sinned and becomes guilty, he must return what he has stolen or taken by extortion, or the deposit entrusted to him, or the lost property he found,
The person who has taken property must return it, within instructions joining acknowledged wrongdoing, restitution and a guilt offering.
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
The prohibition on robbing a neighbor stands beside the ban on withholding a hired worker's wages overnight, keeping economic conduct concrete.
This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
The royal instruction requires rescue of the robbery victim and forbids wrong against vulnerable residents, testing rule by protection and justice.
Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head; many are those who would destroy me—my enemies for no reason. Though I did not steal, I must repay.
The speaker protests having to repay what was not stolen, so a demand for repayment is not itself evidence of guilt.
The Benjamites did as instructed and carried away the number of women they needed from the dancers they caught. They went back to their own inheritance, rebuilt their cities, and settled in them.
The women are carried away following the elders' plan; the narrative's account and closing own-eyes refrain do not authorize present abduction.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Violent seizure of what belongs to another; ranges from physical stripping to metaphorical deprivation through coercive force.
Violent seizure of what belongs to another; ranges from physical stripping to metaphorical deprivation through coercive force.
to pluck off; specifically to flay, strip or rob BDB: tear away Usage: catch, consume, exercise (robbery), pluck (off), rob, spoil, take away (by force, violence), tear.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 30 lexical occurrence verses.
גָּזַל is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Leviticus 6 requires the return of what was taken before continuing with restitution and the guilt offering. The wrong is not repaired merely by changing the language used to describe it. Leviticus 19 similarly joins neighbor protection with prompt payment of wages, so economic harm belongs within the moral examination. Jeremiah 22 addresses rulers whose responsibility includes rescuing robbery victims, not only maintaining their own honor.
Genesis 21 supplies an ordinary dispute over a well and a concrete witness to the agreement. Psalm 69 must be heard from the other side: an innocent person is made to repay, showing why a demand by itself does not settle responsibility. Judges 21 is more disturbing, describing women seized for a communal solution to a crisis. The final statement about everyone doing what was right in their own eyes prevents its instructions from becoming a simple present rule.
Teachers should make coercion visible, honor those whose choices were overridden and pursue truthful repair without assigning survivors ownership status or treating the community's desired outcome as justification.
Jer.22.3
The selected Qal verb forms describe taking or robbing, while Jeremiah uses a passive participle for the robbery victim. Identifying the agent and object distinguishes seized property, economic wrong and people carried away.
Luke 3:10-14 gives concrete responses to John's repentance preaching: share necessities, collect no more than authorized and refuse extortion or false accusation. This comparison supports changed economic conduct without treating the Hebrew robbing verb as a substitute for the particular instructions in Luke.