What Does Ezekiel 47:14 Mean in the King James?
And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The promise takes a startling shape: the land “falls” to the people as inheritance, turning a sworn word into a shared, tangible portion.
THE MEANING
The verse holds promise and possession together: what is sworn is apportioned among the people, one alongside another, as actual land. The raised hand marks the giving as pledged; the inheritance is a share received. Promise becomes a place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a promise can only be words: here, a pledged promise becomes an apportioned, material inheritance.
THE ROOT
וּנְחַלְתֶּם
ūneḥaltem
GROWS FROM
נחל
To inherit or possess as an allotted share.
The verb וּנְחַלְתֶּם (“you shall inherit”) is answered by בְּנַחֲלָה (“as an inheritance”), so action and received possession share one root. Inheritance is a concrete share held by the receiver, not merely a memory of what was promised.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit, take possession.
נָחַל
This verb names the act the verse assigns to the people: they inherit the land.
naḥălāh: Inheritance, inherited possession.
נַחֲלָה
This noun names the land as the lasting portion they receive.
וְנָפְלָה
wenāfəlāh
GROWS FROM
נפל
To fall, descend, or come down.
The Hebrew places נָפְלָה (“shall fall”) beside נַחֲלָה (“inheritance”): their similar sound-shape joins movement with allotted possession, while their roots remain distinct. The land arrives into the people’s portion; “fall” gives inheritance the feel of something received.
ALSO GROWS
nāphal: To fall, descend.
נָפַל
This is the same verb form as the verse’s description of the land falling to the people.
hippîl: To cause to fall, cast down.
הִפִּיל
The causative branch keeps the image of something brought down; here the land’s descent is into an inherited share.
נָשָׂאתִי
nāśāʾtî
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
“lifted up” in this verse is nāśāʾtî. The hand raised to give is named with a root that spans lifting and carrying. The raised hand functions as an oath-sign elsewhere in scripture, so the promise is borne by a pledged gesture.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: To lift, carry, bear.
נָשָׂא
This verb gives the raised hand its physical action and carries the sense of bearing a pledge.
maśśāʾ: A load or burden; something carried.
מַשָּׂא
This noun extends the same root from lifting to carrying, echoing the weight of a promise borne by its giver.
THE PATTERN
A sworn promise becomes a tangible inheritance when the pledged portion is allotted to its heirs.
Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.Where in God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:THE THREAD
For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.Ezekiel names the land as Israel’s נַחֲלָה (naḥălāh, inheritance); Deuteronomy uses the same root for the people as the LORD’s inheritance. One verse describes what the people receive, the other what God claims as a portion.
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