What Does Numbers 27:1 Mean in the King James?

Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

Numbers 27:1 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

They do not merely appear in a genealogy: they draw near, and the verse gives each of them a name.

THE MEANING

Your presence is not swallowed by the line that precedes you: after tracing a chain of fathers, this verse names Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah one by one. Their arrival and the record of their names make them present in their own right. The passage speaks now wherever an inherited history seems larger than the people inside it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a person is only an extension of inherited lineage: the genealogy remains, yet the five daughters stand in the text as named people.

THE ROOT

וַתִּקְרַבְנָה

vattiqravnah

GROWS FROM

קרב

⁨ק־ר־ב⁩ (q-r-b; qarav): approach, draw near.

English came captures arrival, but ⁨קרב⁩ is also the root of near and of an offering, something brought near. The daughters’ movement carries the texture of drawing close: they enter the scene as persons, not only as entries in a genealogy.

ALSO GROWS

qarav: approach, draw near

קָרַב

This verb names the daughters’ movement in the verse.

qarov: near, close

קָרוֹב

The same root names the closeness that the act of approaching creates.

qorban: offering; something brought near

קָרְבָּן

This branch preserves the root’s sense of bringing something near, echoing how the daughters themselves come forward.

מִלְכָּה

Milkāh

GROWS FROM

מלך

⁨מָלַךְ⁩ (malakh): reign, rule; the root of kingship.

Milcah’s name comes from the root that also gives king and kingship. One of the five daughters carries royal language in her own name, so the list presents more than an unnamed category of descendants.

ALSO GROWS

melekh: king

מֶלֶךְ

This word shares the consonants of Milcah’s root and makes its royal sense plain.

malkāh: queen

מַלְכָּה

This feminine royal word shares the root and closely matches the meaning carried by Milcah’s name.

malkhut: kingship, sovereignty

מַלְכוּת

This branch names the rule or sovereignty contained in the root behind Milcah’s name.

THE PATTERN

Drawing near turns distance into direct relation.

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

Psalm 73:28 · KJVThe verse uses the same Hebrew root as came in Numbers to describe drawing near as direct closeness.

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

Luke 18:3 · KJVThe widow’s approach brings her concern directly before the judge, as the daughters’ arrival makes their presence visible.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:16 · KJVComing near is presented as entering direct relation with the throne.

THE THREAD

The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

Psalm 145:18 · KJV

The word translated nigh is ⁨קָרוֹב⁩ (qarov, near), from the same root ⁨קרב⁩ as ⁨וַתִּקְרַבְנָה⁩ (vattiqravnah, they drew near). One verse names the movement toward the scene; the other names nearness itself, the shared root holds both together.

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