What Does Numbers 34:15 Mean in the King James?
The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising.
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 boundary remains, but the inheritance is already received on the sunrise side of the river.
THE MEANING
Your inheritance is concrete: it has a place, a side of the boundary, and a direction. A boundary can remain visible while your portion is already received; both are true at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“I do not really have my portion until I have crossed every remaining boundary.” This verse holds a received inheritance and a still-visible river together.
THE ROOT
נַחֲלָתָם
naḥălātām
GROWS FROM
נחל
n-ḥ-l
To inherit, possess, or receive as an allotted share.
The root joins inheritance to possession: the word names a portion that is already held, not only promised. Here the tribes’ inheritance has a location and is described as received.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit or possess as a share.
נָחַל
The verb beneath the noun shows inheritance as an act of coming into possession.
naḥălāh: Inheritance, possession, or allotted portion.
נַחֲלָה
This is the noun in the verse: a defined share belonging to its recipients.
עֵבֶר
ʿēver
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
To cross over or pass through.
“side / beyond” in this verse is ʿēver. The land is located in relation to a crossing: the Jordan remains a boundary even as the inheritance is already received. English gives a side of the river; the Hebrew word also carries the movement of crossing over.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: To cross, pass over, or pass through.
עָבַר
The verb names the movement carried in the description of the land across the river.
ʿēver: The other side, beyond, or across.
עֵבֶר
This form marks where the received portion lies in relation to the Jordan.
קֵדְמָה
qēdmāh
GROWS FROM
קדם
q-d-m
To be in front, come before, or precede.
“eastward” in this verse is qēdmāh. The Hebrew word for east carries the sense of what is in front or comes before; the verse then reinforces the direction with “toward the sunrising.” The land is located by two overlapping cues, not by a vague edge.
ALSO GROWS
qedem: East, the front, or former times.
קֶדֶם
This noun holds direction and “before” together in the word for east.
qadam: To precede, go before, or meet.
קָדַם
The verb shares the root’s sense of what comes in front or before.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance becomes concrete as a portion assigned to someone, marked out, and received.
Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.THE THREAD
Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.Both verses use נַחֲלָה (naḥălāh, inheritance): the land is divided into portions, and this verse names a group whose share is already received and located. The repeated root links allotment to possession.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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