theft

וְהֵשִׁיב אֶת־הַגְּזֵלָה אֲשֶׁר גָּזָל (Vayikra 5:23), and he shall return the robbed thing that he robbed; אֲשֶׁר גָּֽזְלוּ עַבְדֵי אֲבִימֶֽלֶךְ (Bereishis 21:25), which the servants of Avimelech had seized; and פֶּן־תִּגְזֹל אֶת־בְּנוֹתֶיךָ מֵֽעִמִּֽי (Bereishis 31:31), lest you seize your daughters from me. In the passive, וְֽנִגְזְלָה שְׁנָתָם (Mishlei 4:16), and their sleep is robbed from them. The noun is בְגָזֵל (Vayikra 5:21), by robbery, and bound to the next word, גֵּזֶל אָח (Yechezkel 18:18), robbery of a brother, and וְגֵזֶל מִשְׁפָּט וָצֶדֶק (Koheles 5:7), and the robbing of justice and right. Their sense is known, ענינם ידוע.

וְתֹר וְגוֹזָֽל (Bereishis 15:9), a turtledove and a young bird, is the young of the dove. The pasuk says גוֹזָֽל, whose sense is the small bird, as עַל־גּֽוֹזָלָיו יְרַחֶף (Devarim 32:11), it hovers over its young, because of the doves only the small ones are fit for a korban.

לָמָּה גָנַבְתָּ אֶת־אֱלֹהָֽי (Bereishis 31:30), why did you steal my gods? וַיִּגְנֹב יַֽעֲקֹב אֶת־לֵב לָבָן הָֽאֲרַמִּי (Bereishis 31:20), and Yaakov stole the heart of Lavan the Arami, means he stole his knowledge: Lavan thought Yaakov was with his flock, and he had fled. Likewise וַתִּגְנֹב אֹתִי (Bereishis 31:27), and you stole me, is as though it said my knowledge; or אותי, me, stands in place of מן, from, that is, you stole your knowledge from me, and so the Targum has וְכַסֵּיתָא מִנִּי, you hid it from me.

גְּנֻֽבְתִי יוֹם וּגְנֻֽבְתִי לָֽיְלָה (Bereishis 31:39), what was stolen by day and what was stolen by night. The yud in both is added, and the proper form is גְּנוּבַת יום וּגְנוּבַת לילה.

וְאִם־ גָּנֹב יִגָּנֵב (Shemos 22:11), and if it be stolen, מְגַנְּבֵי דְבָרַי (Yirmiyahu 23:30), who steal My words, וַיְגַנֵּב אַבְשָׁלוֹם אֶת־לֵב אַנְשֵׁי יִשְׂרָאֵֽל (Shmuel II 15:6), and Avshalom stole the heart of the men of Yisrael, כִּֽי־ גֻנֹּב גֻּנַּבְתִּי (Bereishis 40:15), for I was surely stolen away, וְאֵלַי דָּבָר יְגֻנָּב (Iyov 4:12), and a word was stolen to me, וְגֻנַּב מִבֵּית הָאִישׁ (Shemos 22:6), and it is stolen out of the man's house, and וַיִּתְגַּנֵּב הָעָם בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא (Shmuel II 19:4), and the people stole away that day.

The noun is גְּנֵבָה: אִם־הִמָּצֵא תִמָּצֵא בְיָדוֹ הַגְּנֵבָה (Shemos 22:3), if the theft is found in his hand, and וְנִמְכַּר בִּגְנֵֽבָתֽוֹ (Shemos 22:2), he is sold for his theft. The man is הַגַּנָּב: אִם־בַּמַּחְתֶּרֶת יִמָּצֵא הַגַּנָּב (Shemos 22:1), if the thief is found breaking in; אִם־ גַּנָּבִים בָּאוּ לְךָ, if thieves came to you, in Ovadiah; and כְּבֹשֶׁת גַּנָּב כִּי יִמָּצֵא (Yirmiyahu 2:26), like the shame of a thief when he is found, which Targum Yonasan renders כְּבַהֲתַת גְבַר דְמִתְחַשֵׁיב מְהֵימָן וּמִשְׁתְּכַח גְנִיב, like the shame of a man held trustworthy who is found to be a thief.

חָֽמְסוּ תוֹרָתִי (Yechezkel 22:26), they have robbed My Torah: since they do not keep it, it is as though they robbed it and removed it from its place. So too Rabbi Yonah wrote that the sense of חמס in Arabic is the removing of a thing from its place.

וּמְזִמּוֹת עָלַי תַּחְמֹֽסוּ (Iyov 21:27), the schemes of violence you think against me, means that you think of me that the violence is with me; or else it means that your schemes, which you think up against me, are violence and sin. וְֽחֹֽטְאִי חֹמֵס נַפְשׁוֹ (Mishlei 8:36), and he who sins against me does violence to his own soul.

וַיַּחְמֹס כגן שֹכו (Eichah 2:6), and He took away His booth as a garden, is rightly understood as כסכת גן, like a garden's booth: as a garden's booth is easily pulled down and taken away, so He did with His booth, which is Tzion.

יַחְמֹס כַּגֶּפֶן בִּסְרוֹ (Iyov 15:33), he will strip his unripe grapes like the vine, means he will remove and lay bare. So too, in the passive, נֶחְמְסוּ עֲקֵבָֽיִךְ (Yirmiyahu 13:22), your heels were laid bare: they were uncovered and the covering on them taken off.

וְאֶת־ הַתַּחְמָס (Devarim 14:16 in his edition), and the tachmas, is one of the unclean birds, called so because it does violence to the other birds and robs them; and so the Targum Yerushalmi has חטופיתא, the snatcher.

כִּי לֹא חָמֵץ (Shemos 12:39), because it was not leavened, טֶרֶם יֶחְמָץ (Shemos 12:34), before it was leavened, and מִלּוּשׁ בָּצֵק עַד־חֻמְצָתוֹ (Hoshea 7:4), from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened, which he marks as an infinitive on the pattern of לְחֻמְלָה עָלָיִךְ (Yechezkel 16:5), to have pity on you. חָמֵץ תֵּאָפֶינָה (Vayikra 23:17), they shall be baked leavened, is the adjective, and כָּל־מַחְמֶצֶת (Shemos 12:20), anything leavened, the noun; though he allows that מחמצת may be an adjective describing the עריסה, the dough, and says their sense is known. חֹמֶץ יַיִן וְחֹמֶץ שֵׁכָר (Bamidbar 6:3), vinegar of wine and vinegar of strong drink, is one sense with the leavening of dough, he says, since dough leavened more than enough tastes of vinegar.

Chazal read אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ (Yeshayahu 1:17) in this sense, call fortunate the one who leavens. Radak explains: the one who leavens the judgment, not judging at once but only after much looking into it. So they said (Sanhedrin 35a), fortunate is the judge who leavens his judgment; that is, they called him fortunate.

כִּי יִתְחַמֵּץ לְבָבִי (Tehillim 73:21), when my heart was soured, he calls a borrowed use of the word, and it is anger.

בְּלִיל חָמִיץ יֹאכֵלוּ (Yeshayahu 30:24), they shall eat fodder that is חָמִיץ: Rabbi Yonah explains חמיץ as clean and good, and likens it to the Arabic, where clean good fodder for a beast is called חמצ"ה with a dot on the tzadi. Targum Yonasan has בְּלִיל מְפַטֵם, fattening provender.

Radak himself takes אַשְּׁרוּ חָמוֹץ (Yeshayahu 1:17) as a word describing the oppressed man, set the oppressed right; and in מִכַּף מְעַוֵּל וְחוֹמֵץ (Tehillim 71:4), from the hand of the wrongdoer and the oppressor, the word is one who oppresses, and is like חוֹמֵס with a samech, as הַשְּׁבִיסִים (Yeshayahu 3:18), the ornaments, with a samech, is of the sense of ושבצת, checkered work, with a tzadi. וְקַטֵּר מֵחָמֵץ תּוֹדָה (Amos 4:5), and burn a thanks offering of what was got by oppression, can be read from this, and Targum Yonasan has וּמַגְבַן מִן אוֹנֶס תּוֹדָתָא, an offering of thanks out of what was seized; on וְרֹעֶה זוֹלְלִים יַכְלִים אָבִיו (Mishlei 28:7), he who keeps company with gluttons shames his father, the Targum has וּדְמִתְחַבֵּר לִזְלִילֵי מַחֲמֵץ אֲבוּי, whoever joins himself to gluttons oppresses his father.

חֲמוּץ בְּגָדִים (Yeshayahu 63:1), red of garments: the word is red, as the sense of the pasuk shows.