What Does Numbers 36:3 Mean in the King James?
And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our 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 Hebrew repeats “diminished”: a marriage across tribes moves an inheritance out of one lineage and into another.
THE MEANING
This verse treats a daughter’s marriage as a change in the distribution of inherited land: her share is diminished from her fathers’ inheritance and added to the tribe she joins. Family belonging and material inheritance are bound together in the arrangement the verse describes.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that marriage changes only a private relationship: here it also shifts which tribe holds an inherited share.
THE ROOT
נִגְרְעָה
nigraʿah
GROWS FROM
גרע
To diminish, lessen, or take away from a whole.
“taken from / diminished” in this verse is nigraʿah. The Hebrew uses the same root twice where the KJV says “taken,” making the change a subtraction from an allotted share. What leaves one inheritance appears as a loss to that portion and a gain to another.
ALSO GROWS
tigreʿu: You shall diminish or take away.
תִּגְרְעוּ
In Deuteronomy 4:2, the same root names taking anything away from the instruction; here it names a reduction in an inheritance.
tigreʿu: You shall diminish or take away.
תִּגְרְעוּ
In Exodus 5:8, the same form means reducing a required brick quota, showing the root at work with a measurable share.
נַחֲלָה
naḥalah
GROWS FROM
נחל
To inherit or possess an allotted share.
The root holds both receiving an inheritance and assigning one. The verse repeats “inheritance” across the fathers’ and tribes’ shares, showing the marriage as a change in where a defined possession belongs.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit or take possession.
נָחַל
The verb names the receiving side of the share that is at stake in this verse.
hinḥil: To cause someone to inherit; to assign as an inheritance.
הִנְחִיל
This form names the assigning side, illuminating how a possession can move from one lineage’s allotment to another.
THE PATTERN
An inherited share belongs to a defined allotment, so changing its holder changes how a community’s possessions are distributed.
And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.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.Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.THE THREAD
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.The Hebrew verb תִּגְרְעוּ (tigreʿu, “diminish”) shares the root גרע (gāraʿ, “diminish”) with the word translated “taken” here. In Deuteronomy it names taking from instruction; here it names a reduction in an inheritance.
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