Genesis 21:30

Abraham replied, “I want you truly to accept these female lambs from me [SYN], so that it may be a ◄public witness/proof► that this well belongs to me because I dug it.”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.

In Context

29Abimelech asked Abraham, “What are these seven female lambs that you have separated from the rest of your flock?”

31So Abimelech accepted the animals, and as a result they called that place Beersheba, which means ‘Friendship Agreement Well’, because there the two of them made that agreement.

Read all of Genesis 21

Cross References

Genesis 26:18There were several wells in that area that had been dug when Isaac’s father Abraham was living, but Philistine people had filled them up with dirt after Abraham died. Now Isaac and his servants removed the dirt, and Isaac gave the wells the same names that his father had given to them.

Genesis 31:52Both this pile of rocks and this large stone will remind us, that I will not go past these rocks to harm you, and you will not go past these rocks to harm me.

Joshua 24:27He said to all the people, “Look! It is as though this stone has heard everything that Yahweh said to you and that you promised Yahweh. It will serve as a witness against you if you rebel against your God!”

Matthew Henry on Genesis 21:23-33

Abimelech's Covenant with Abraham. ( b. c. 1892.) 22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: 23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. 24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 25 And Abraham… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 21:30