to take by open force: to rob, seize, or tear something away from the one who holds it
This word pictures taking by naked force, out in the open, not by stealth. Someone who does this grabs what belongs to another and carries it off in plain sight, daring anyone to stop them. Because the thing grabbed can be almost anything, English Bibles reach for a range of words to render it: rob, spoil, take by force, pluck, tear away.
Most often the object is property, and here the word names robbery as a moral and covenant crime. A house, a field, a flock, unpaid wages, the little that the poor and fatherless own: the prophets and the law codes return to it again and again, and they insist that the guilty give back exactly what they seized. At other times the picture is more physical and concrete: wresting a spear out of an enemy's hand, snatching a child, seizing a well, stripping the skin off a body.
What holds all of this together, and sets the word apart from ordinary stealing, is force used in the open. A thief works in secret and hopes not to be seen. This word is for the strong-arm who simply takes, in broad daylight, because no one can stop them.