What Does Numbers 34:28 Mean in the King James?

And the prince of the tribe of the children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.

Numbers 34:28 · 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.

THE KEY

The name of Naphtali’s appointed prince means “God has redeemed,” so the record of inheritance carries redemption in the name of its steward.

THE MEANING

The verse gives belonging a visible shape: Naphtali’s place is represented by a named prince. Pedahel’s name carries the sense “God has redeemed,” placing release within the name attached to this inheritance. The line holds a tribe’s allotted place and the language of redemption together.

THE ROOT

פְּדַהְאֵל

Pedahel

GROWS FROM

פדה

Redeem, ransom, release.

Pedahel joins ⁨פדה⁩ (padah, redeem or ransom) with ⁨אֵל⁩ (El, God), giving the name the sense “God has redeemed.” The verse places this language of release inside a record of inheritance: the person named at the head of Naphtali bears redemption in his name.

ALSO GROWS

pādâ: To redeem or ransom.

פָּדָה

This verb carries the root’s action directly and gives the first part of Pedahel’s name its sense of release.

pōdeh: One who redeems; redeeming.

פֹּדֶה

This participle keeps the root’s consonants and presents redemption as an active role, echoing the person named in the verse.

THE PATTERN

A whole becomes concrete as its distinct parts receive defined places within it.

And ye shall take one prince of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance.

Numbers 34:18 · KJVEach tribe’s place in the inheritance is entrusted to a particular representative.

These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.

Joshua 19:51 · KJVThe allotted whole takes shape through identified leaders and tribal heads carrying out the division.

But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

1 Corinthians 12:18 · KJVEach member receives a distinct place within a larger living whole.

THE THREAD

But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

Psalm 49:15 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “redeem” here is ⁨יִפְדֶּה⁩ (yipdeh), from the same root ⁨פדה⁩ as Pedahel. The verse makes explicit the action compressed in the name: God is the one who redeems.

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