Joshua 16:4

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַיִּנְחֲל֥וּ

nâchal

H5157

“and · to inherit”

Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 59× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 23:30

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1342

to get as a possession, acquire, inherit, possess - (Qal) - to take possession, inherit - to have or get as a possession or property (figuratively) - to divide the land for a possession - to acquire (testimonies) (figuratively) - (Piel) to divide for a possession - (Hithpael) to possess oneself of - (Hiphil) - to give as a possession - to cause to inherit, give as an inheritance - (Hophal) to be allotted, be made to possess

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

5: words
5: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וַיִּנְחֲל֥וּ to inherit H5157 occurs in 57 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

1 verb
4 nouns

Verb forms

וַיִּנְחֲל֥וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 11 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 5 Hebrew tokens and 8 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Joshua 16:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Joshua 17:14 The children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why have you given me but one lot and one part for an inheritance, seeing I am a great people, because hitherto Yahweh has blessed me?

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Joshua 16:4 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיִּנְחֲל֥וּ בְנֵי יוֹסֵ֖ף מְנַשֶּׁ֥ה וְאֶפְרָֽיִם

The children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Joshua 16:4 Septuagint · lemma form

καί κληρονομέω ὁ υἱός ιωσηφ ἐφράιμ καί μανασσή

And the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasse, took their inheritance.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְאַחֲסִינוּ בְנֵי יוֹסֵף מְנַשֶׁה וְאֶפְרָיִם:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Joshua 16:4 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jos 16:4 So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance.

Ver. 4. Manasseh and Ephraim took their inheritance.] And it was a happiness to both that they lay together: but a shameful thing that afterwards it should be said, "Manasseh against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh; and they together against Judah." {Isa 9:21}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Jos 16:4. Manasseh — That is, half Manasseh. Their inheritance — Their several portions, which here follow. It is said, they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph took possession of their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people, which were at Gilgal, Jos 18:5.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Severally, first Ephraim, and then Manasseh.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

John Gill's Exposition

So the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. As it fell to them by the lot; by Manasseh is meant the half tribe of Manasseh, one half of that tribe having been settled by Moses on the other side Jordan; and next follows an account of the borders of the inheritance of Ephraim in particular, as that of the half tribe of Manasseh is given in Jos 17:1.

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Joshua 16:5

jos 16:5

jos 16:5

jos 16:5And the border of the children of Ephraim, according to their families, was thus,.... Or what follows is the description of it:

even the border of their inheritance on the east side was Atarothaddar, unto Bethhoron the upper; the first was on the south of the inheritance, and the latter on the north, as Masius has placed them: who has given us a type of this description, by which it appears that this lot is here described in its breadth from south to north.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Possessed it, or divided the country between them. The territories of Ephraim are henceforward described, to the end of the chapter. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Manasseh, i.e. half Manasseh, by a synecdoche. Their inheritance, i.e. their several portions which here follow. Some think that they had but one lot between them; and therefore they are now said

to take their inheritance, to wit, by dividing it between them according to the direction of Joshua and Eleazar, &c.; for that phrase being used of them, and not to my remembrance of any other tribes, may seem to have some peculiar signification, which doth not agree to the other tribes. But there being mention of a peculiar lot taken out for Manasseh, Jos 17:1, shows that their several inheritances fell to them, as the rest did to the other tribes, even by several lots; and it is said of them, that

they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph did take their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people which were at Gilgal. See Jos 18:5.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Manasseh - That is, half Manasseh. Their inheritance - Their several portions which here follow. It is said, they took their inheritance, which also Judah had done before them, because the tribes of Judah and Joseph did take their inheritances before the rest; and it was fit they should do so, for the security of the main camp, and the body of the people which were at Gilgal, chap. xviii, 5.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Joshua, in the Historical, opens this verse with 5 words (5 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nâchal (“to inherit”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to inherit” (nâchal) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Exodus 23:30, which shares the word «to inherit», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיִּנְחֲל֥וּ» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 5 Hebrew ↔ 8 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 5 words in this verse.
5 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.