What Does Numbers 36:8 Mean in the King James?
And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.
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 same Hebrew root names the daughter as an inheritor and Israel as inheritors, while the marriage rule keeps her share inside her father’s tribe.
THE MEANING
Here, inheritance is a family-held portion: a daughter who possesses it is required to marry within her father’s tribal family so the ancestral holding remains in that tribe. Her claim is real, and the limit on her marriage is real too.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the verse leaves daughters outside inheritance falls away: it names a daughter who inherits. At the same time, it binds that inheritance to a marriage restriction within her father’s tribe.
THE ROOT
יֹרֶשֶׁת
yoreshet
GROWS FROM
ירש
inherit, take possession
“possesseth / enjoy” in this verse is yoreshet. The verse uses this root first for the daughter who “possesseth” an inheritance, then again for what the children of Israel may “enjoy.” The personal claim and the tribe’s continuity sound through one seed: she inherits, and the people inherit.
ALSO GROWS
yarash: to inherit, take possession
יָרַשׁ
This verb is the root shared by the daughter’s “possesseth” and the people’s “enjoy.”
yerushah: inheritance, possession
יְרֻשָּׁה
The action of inheriting also appears as the holding itself, linking the inheritor to what passes onward.
morashah: heritage, inherited possession
מוֹרָשָׁה
This related form carries the same inheritance sense as a holding passed down.
נַחֲלָה
nachalah
GROWS FROM
נחל
to inherit or hold as a portion
“inheritance” in this verse is nachalah. The noun names a particular inherited share, not an abstract possession. Here, that share is attached to a defined family line, and the verse governs how it remains within the tribe.
ALSO GROWS
nachal: to inherit, take possession
נָחַל
The verb gives the root’s action beneath the noun “inheritance.”
nachalah: inheritance, portion
נַחֲלָה
This is the inherited share named in the verse.
nachalu: they inherited, took possession
נַחֲלוּ
The plural verb shows the same root as an act shared by a people.
THE PATTERN
An inheritance is received as a portion and carried forward through a named line.
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.THE THREAD
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.Both verses use נַחֲלָה (nachalah, inheritance or portion) for what passes within a family. Numbers 27:8 names a daughter as the recipient; Numbers 36:8 shows the marriage boundary placed around that inheritance.
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