What Does Numbers 36:7 Mean in the King James?

So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

Numbers 36:7 · 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

The verse sets inheritance turning from tribe to tribe against each Israelite clinging to the fathers’ tribal inheritance: belonging is carried through attachment, not mere possession.

THE MEANING

Here, inheritance is more than an asset: it carries a place within a people and a line of belonging. Its boundary matters, the inheritance does not turn from tribe to tribe, while each person remains joined to what the fathers’ tribe holds.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief this undoes is that an inheritance can shift between lines without changing what it means; here, the line of belonging is part of the inheritance itself.

THE ROOT

תִּסֹּב

tisov

GROWS FROM

סבב

s-b-b

To turn, go around, or encircle.

The English “remove” carries a motion the Hebrew makes vivid: inheritance turning from one tribe to another. That image stands against each Israelite’s clinging to the inheritance within the fathers’ tribe.

ALSO GROWS

sāvav: To turn around, go about, or encircle.

סָבַב

The verb’s root gives the inheritance’s movement the sense of turning from one tribal line to another.

sāvīv: Around or surrounding.

סָבִיב

This related form echoes the movement around a boundary, sharpening the verse’s picture of inheritance crossing from tribe to tribe.

יִדְבְּקוּ

yidbequ

GROWS FROM

דבק

d-b-q

To stick, adhere, or cling closely.

“keep himself to / cling” in this verse is yidbequ. The word translated “keep himself to” is the language of adhesion: each person is joined to the inheritance rather than simply possessing it. The same root describes close bonds elsewhere, so the verse presents belonging as a lasting attachment.

ALSO GROWS

vedāvaq: And he shall cling or cleave.

וְדָבַק

In Genesis 2:24 this word describes a bond between people, illuminating the close attachment pictured here between a person and an inheritance.

tidbaq: You shall cling or cleave.

תִּדְבָּק

In Deuteronomy 10:20 the same root describes clinging to the LORD, showing that its image can name enduring belonging as well as physical attachment.

THE PATTERN

Inheritance keeps a line of belonging visible: its holder is joined to the family or promise through which it comes.

The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.

Numbers 27:7 · KJVThe daughters receive their father’s inheritance within the kinship line, showing that belonging to the line matters even as the heirs differ.

And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

1 Kings 21:3 · KJVNaboth names ancestral inheritance as something he cannot simply hand outside his fathers’ line.

And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 3:29 · KJVHeirship follows belonging to Abraham’s seed and the promise, carrying the language of family inheritance into shared belonging.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

Deuteronomy 10:20 · KJV

The word translated “cleave” is ⁨תִּדְבָּק⁩ (tidbaq), from ⁨דבק⁩ (d-b-q), “cling or adhere”, the same root as Numbers 36:7’s word for keeping oneself to an inheritance. Here the root names attachment to the LORD, revealing the durable belonging carried in the verse’s image of clinging.

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