nachal · inherit, possess

What it means

nachal (נָחַל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “inherit, possess”.

Receive as an inheritance; take possession of a land. In the causative, give as an inheritance.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To receive as one's own what another gives or leaves, above all land.
2. To distribute the land as an inheritance among those who will receive it.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To receive as an inheritance, to possess; in the causative, to give as an inheritance, to make inherit. It is the verb of נַחֲלָה (‘inheritance’, H5159).

• Receiving the land as an inheritance Joshua 14:1Numbers 26:55Exodus 23:30
• The Levites will have no inheritance Numbers 18:20Numbers 18:23
• YHWH inherits his people Exodus 34:9Zechariah 2:12Psalms 82:8
• Inheriting honor, folly, wind Proverbs 3:35Proverbs 11:29Proverbs 14:18
• “I have inherited your testimonies” Psalms 119:111

How we translate it

“Inherit” in its forms (“inherit” 25 times, “inherited” 3, “will inherit”); “inheritance” 16 in phrases such as “take as inheritance”, “gave as an inheritance”, “received their inheritance” in the dividing of the land. The causative is “give as an inheritance” and נַחֲלָה is “inheritance” throughout the dividing of the land. In Exodus 34:9 Moses asks: “take us as your inheritance”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• inherit ×25
• inheritance ×16
• apportion as inheritance ×3
• inherited ×3
• you shall take as inheritance ×3
• I gave as an inheritance ×2
• received their inheritance ×2
• gave as inheritances ×1
• inheriting ×1
• received ×1
• others ×2

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×3
• Leviticus×1
• Numbers×13
• Deuteronomy×8
• Joshua×9
• Judges×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 1 Chronicles×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×6
• Isaiah×3
• Jeremiah×3
• Ezekiel×3
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2

• Exodus 23:30

  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you increase and take possession of the land.

• Exodus 32:13

  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

• Exodus 34:9

  And he said, “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, Adonai, let Adonai go, please, in our midst; although it is a stubborn people, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

• Leviticus 25:46

  And you may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession; forever you may make them serve; but over your brothers, the sons of Israel, one over another you shall not rule with harshness.

• Numbers 18:20

  And YHWH said to Aaron, “In their land you shall not have an inheritance, and you shall have no portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.

• Numbers 18:23

  But the Levites themselves shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and among the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.

• Numbers 18:24

  For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they set apart to YHWH as a contribution, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, ‘Among the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.’”

• Numbers 26:55

  But by lot the land shall be divided; according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.

• Numbers 32:18

  We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have taken as inheritance, each his inheritance.

• Numbers 32:19

  For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan, to the east.”

• Numbers 33:54

  You shall take as inheritance the land by lot according to your families; to the large you shall increase his inheritance, and to the small you shall reduce his inheritance; wherever the lot falls for him, that shall be his; according to the tribes of your fathers you shall take inheritance.

• Numbers 34:13

  Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the land that you shall take as inheritance by lot, which YHWH has commanded to give to the nine tribes and the half tribe.

• Numbers 34:17

  “These are the names of the men who shall apportion as inheritance the land to you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.

• Numbers 34:18

  And one chief, one chief from each tribe you shall take to apportion as inheritance the land.

• Numbers 34:29

  These are those whom YHWH commanded to apportion as inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

• Numbers 35:8

  And the cities that you shall give from the possession of the sons of Israel, from the large you shall take more, and from the small you shall take fewer; each according to his inheritance that they inherit shall give of his cities to the Levites.”

• Deuteronomy 1:38

  Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Strengthen him, for he will make Israel inherit it.

• Deuteronomy 3:28

  And command Joshua, and strengthen him and make him firm, for he shall cross over before this people, and he shall make them inherit the land that you will see.”

• Deuteronomy 12:10

  But you will cross the Jordan and live in the land that YHWH your Elohim is causing you to inherit, and he will give rest to you from all your enemies around, and you will live in security.

• Deuteronomy 19:3

  You shall prepare for yourself the road, and divide into three parts the territory of your land that YHWH your Elohim gives you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer may flee there.

• Deuteronomy 19:14

  You shall not move the boundary of your neighbor, which the first generations have set in your inheritance that you will inherit in the land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you to possess it.

• Deuteronomy 21:16

  then on the day that he gives his sons as an inheritance what he has, he may not make firstborn the son of the loved one in place of the son of the hated one, the firstborn.

• Deuteronomy 31:7

  And Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and firm, for you will go with this people into the land that YHWH swore to their fathers to give them, and you will cause them to inherit it.

• Deuteronomy 32:8

  When Elyon gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.

• Joshua 1:6

  Be strong and firm, for you will make this people inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give to them.

• Joshua 13:32

  These are what Moses gave as an inheritance in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, to the east.

• Joshua 14:1

  And these are what the sons of Israel inherited in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the sons of Israel gave them as an inheritance:

• Joshua 16:4

  So the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.

• Joshua 17:6

  because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons; and the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.

• Joshua 19:9

  From the allotment of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too great for them; so the sons of Simeon received their inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

• Joshua 19:49

  And they finished inheriting the land by its borders; and the sons of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua son of Nun in their midst.

• Joshua 19:51

  These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the sons of Israel gave as inheritances by lot in Shiloh before YHWH, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And they finished dividing the land.

• Judges 11:2

  The wife of Gilead bore him sons; and the sons of the wife grew up and drove out Jephthah and said to him, “You shall not inherit in the house of our father, for you are the son of another woman.”

• 1 Samuel 2:8

  He raises the poor from the dust; from the ash heap he lifts the needy, to make them sit with nobles, and he makes them inherit a throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s, and on them he has set the world.

• 1 Chronicles 28:8

  So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of YHWH, and in the hearing of our Elohim, keep and seek all the commandments of YHWH your Elohim, so that you may possess the good land and give it as an inheritance to your sons after you forever.

• Job 7:3

  so I have been given as my inheritance months of emptiness, and nights of suffering have been assigned to me.

• Psalms 69:36

  And the offspring of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell in it.

• Psalms 82:8

  Rise up, Elohim, judge the earth, for you will have an inheritance among all the nations.

• Psalms 119:111

  I have inherited your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart.

• Proverbs 3:35

  The wise will inherit honor, but the senseless carry off disgrace.

And 19 more times.