What Does Joshua 14:3 Mean?
For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and a half tribe across the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and an half tribe on the other side Jordan: but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them.THE KEY
The word “none” is bounded by “among them”: the Levites receive no share in this tribal land allotment.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks through a precise distinction: the eastern tribes receive a land inheritance, while the Levites have no share in that tribal division. “None among them” names what is absent from this allotment; it does not say the Levites receive no provision or portion of any kind.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that having no share in the same allotment means having no portion at all.
THE ROOT
נַחֲלָה
naḥalah
GROWS FROM
נחל
naḥal
To inherit or possess as an allotted share.
The same word names both the inheritance given to the eastern tribes and the inheritance the Levites do not receive among them. The root holds receiving a portion and assigning that portion together, making “none” specific to this tribal land division.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit or possess as an inheritance.
נָחַל
The verb names receiving the share that נַחֲלָה names as an inheritance.
hinḥil: To assign as an inheritance; to cause someone to inherit.
הִנְחִיל
This causative form names the assigning side of inheritance, matching the verse’s account of Moses giving the tribes their land share.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance is a received portion whose form may differ from the land share held by others.
And the LORD spoke unto Aaron, You shall have no holding in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your holding among the children of Israel.The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.into an inheritance that cannot be ruined, and cannot be stained, and cannot wither, kept in the heavens for you,THE THREAD
But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance. The LORD God of Israel is their inheritance, as he said to them.Joshua 13:33 repeats נַחֲלָה (naḥalah, “inheritance”) and names the LORD God of Israel as Levi’s inheritance. That connection clarifies the scope of “none”: the tribal land share is absent, while the text names a different inheritance.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us