nachala · inheritance

What it means

nachala (נַחֲלָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “inheritance”.

The share each son receives; the land that falls to a family or tribe.

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. Land or goods passed from parents to children.
2. God is the priests' inheritance; the people, God's.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Inheritance: the share of land or goods that falls to someone and passes from parents to children. BDB defines it as something inherited: occupancy, heirloom, portion. Its verb is נָחַל, inherit (H5157).

• Each family's inheritance in the land Numbers 27:7Ruth 4:6
• The inheritance that must not pass from one tribe to another Numbers 36:7
• “The inheritance of my fathers” 1 Kings 21:3
• God as the priests' inheritance; the people as God's inheritance Numbers 18:20Deuteronomy 32:9
• “An inheritance from YHWH {are} children” Psalms 127:3

Historical and cultural background

Naboth will not sell his vineyard to the king because it is “the inheritance of my fathers” (1 Kings 21:3); Numbers 36:7 commands that an inheritance not pass from tribe to tribe.

How we translate it

“Inheritance” 219 times, “inheritances” 2, “heritage” 1. It is translated “inheritance” consistently, whether it is land or, figuratively, children (Psalm 127:3).

How it is translated

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

• inheritance ×219
• inheritances ×2
• heritage ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Exodus×1
• Numbers×46
• Deuteronomy×25
• Joshua×50
• Judges×7
• Ruth×3
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×4
• 1 Kings×6
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×2
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×23
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×12
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×15
• Joel×2
• Micah×3
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 31:14

  Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there still for us a portion or an inheritance in the house of our father?

• Genesis 48:6

  But the children whom you have fathered after them will be yours; by the name of their brothers they will be called in their inheritance.

• Exodus 15:17

  You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place for you to dwell in that you have made, YHWH, the sanctuary, Adonai, that your hands have established.

• Numbers 16:14

  Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us an inheritance of field and vineyard. Will you gouge out the eyes of those men? We will not come up!”

• 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 18:21

  And to the sons of Levi, look, I have given every tithe in Israel as an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, the service of the tent of meeting.

• 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 18:26

  “And to the Levites you shall speak and say to them, ‘When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them as your inheritance, then you shall set apart from it a contribution for YHWH, a tithe of the tithe.

• Numbers 26:53

  “Among these the land shall be divided as an inheritance according to the number of names.

• Numbers 26:54

  To the large you shall increase his inheritance, and to the small you shall reduce his inheritance; to each his inheritance shall be given according to those counted of him.

• Numbers 26:56

  According to the lot its inheritance shall be divided between the large and the small.”

• Numbers 26:62

  Those of them counted were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward; for they were not counted among the sons of Israel, because no inheritance was given to them among the sons of Israel.

• Numbers 27:7

  “The daughters of Zelophehad are speaking rightly. You shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among the brothers of their father, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them.

• Numbers 27:8

  And to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying: If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.

• Numbers 27:9

  And if he has no daughter, you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.

• Numbers 27:10

  And if he has no brothers, you shall give his inheritance to the brothers of his father.

• Numbers 27:11

  And if there are no brothers of his father, you shall give his inheritance to his relative who is nearest to him from his family, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the sons of Israel a statute of justice, as YHWH commanded Moses.”

• 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 32:32

  We will cross over armed before YHWH into the land of Canaan, and with us shall remain the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan.”

• 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 34:2

  “Command the sons of Israel and say to them: When you enter into the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its borders.

• Numbers 34:14

  For the tribe of the sons of the Reubenites by their fathers’ house and the tribe of the sons of the Gadites by their fathers’ house have taken, and the half tribe of Manasseh have taken their inheritance.

• Numbers 34:15

  The two tribes and the half tribe have taken their inheritance on this side of the Jordan opposite Jericho, eastward, toward the sunrise.”

• Numbers 35:2

  “Command the sons of Israel that they give to the Levites, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in; and pasturelands for the cities all around them you shall give to the Levites.

• 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.”

• Numbers 36:2

  They said, “YHWH commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel; and my lord was commanded by YHWH to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

• Numbers 36:3

  But if they become wives to one of the sons of the tribes of the sons of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.

• Numbers 36:4

  And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers their inheritance will be taken away.”

• Numbers 36:7

  So the inheritance of the sons of Israel shall not pass from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall hold fast, each to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

• Numbers 36:8

  And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from the tribes of the sons of Israel shall become wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel may possess, each, the inheritance of his fathers.

• Numbers 36:9

  So the inheritance shall not pass from tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall hold fast, each to his own inheritance.”

• Numbers 36:12

  Within the families of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph they became wives, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

• Deuteronomy 4:20

  But you YHWH has taken and brought out you from the furnace of iron, from Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for him, as you are this day.

• Deuteronomy 4:21

  YHWH was incensed with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and that I would not enter into the good land that YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.

• Deuteronomy 4:38

  to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you from before you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.

• Deuteronomy 9:26

  I prayed to YHWH and said, “Adonai YHWH, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you ransomed by your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

• Deuteronomy 9:29

  Yet they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”

• Deuteronomy 10:9

  Therefore Levi has had no portion or inheritance with his brothers; YHWH, he is his inheritance, as YHWH your Elohim has spoken to him.

And 182 more times.