ga.zal denotes taking away another’s possession or person by seizure, robbery, or plunder.

The verb consistently concerns wrongful or forceful taking: objects are taken from their holders, property and land are seized, and vulnerable people are robbed or delivered from robbers. Its passive participles also describe those or what has been taken, while one Niphal form depicts sleep as taken away.

1. Seizing or taking away by force or wrong · dominant

   Qal forms portray the taking of what belongs to another: in Genesis 21:25 the APB renders the servants’ action against Abraham’s well as having “seized” it, and in Job 24:2 it renders the taking of flocks as “seize.” The same action reaches a spear taken from an Egyptian’s hand in 1 Chronicles 11:23, land and houses taken in Micah 2:2, and robbery of poor people in Ezekiel 22:29; passive participles identify the robbed person or taken property in Jeremiah 21:12 and Deuteronomy 28:31.

   Genesis 21:25Job 24:21 Chronicles 11:23Micah 2:2Ezekiel 22:29Jeremiah 21:12

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the verses, the APB uses such wording as “plundered,” “snatched,” “seized,” “robbery,” “robbed,” and “stolen.” These are renderings of whole clauses identifications of the Hebrew term; in Proverbs 4:16 it also renders the affected sleep as “plundered.”