What Does Ezekiel 48:29 Mean in the King James?
This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.
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 Hebrew pictures the land being caused to fall into inheritance, as though each share lands in its appointed place.
THE MEANING
The land is apportioned as an inheritance among Israel’s tribes, each with a distinct share. One land holds many portions without making the inheritance shapeless. The LORD names those portions as theirs.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that only possession of the whole counts as inheritance; here, each named share belongs within the inheritance.
THE ROOT
תַּפִּילוּ
tappilu
GROWS FROM
נפל
n-p-l
To fall; in a causative form, to cause to fall.
The Hebrew verb translated “divide by lot” is a causative form of “fall,” adding the image of land caused to fall into an inheritance. The allotment is more than an abstract division: each share lands in place.
ALSO GROWS
nāphal: To fall
נָפַל
This is the basic motion beneath the causative verb used here.
mappālāh: Downfall, ruin
מַפָּלָה
This related form carries the same fall-language into a result; here, the verb’s falling image pictures allotment.
מַחְלְקוֹתָם
maḥleqotam
GROWS FROM
חלק
ḥ-l-q
To divide or apportion; to make a share.
English uses separate words for dividing and for the resulting portions, but this Hebrew word-family binds them together. A portion is a division made specific and received.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleq: Share, portion
חֵלֶק
The same root names a distinct share, as in Psalm 16:5, where the LORD is called the speaker’s portion.
ḥālaq: To divide, apportion
חָלַק
The verb and the noun for portions belong to one family: the portion is what has been apportioned.
maḥloqet: Division, dispute
מַחְלֹקֶת
The same root can name division itself; here, division gives each tribe a defined share.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance becomes tangible as a distinct share held within a larger gift.
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:THE THREAD
The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.Ezekiel’s “portions” and the Psalm’s “portion” share the root חלק (ḥ-l-q, to divide or apportion). Ezekiel names the tribes’ allotted shares; the Psalm names the LORD as the speaker’s own share, turning allotment into belonging.
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