יָרַשׁ
to inherit
‘to inherit’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘take possession of’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘cause to possess’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
Form
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 51 distinct
- Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct 51 times (22%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 17 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 14 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 13 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 12 times (5%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct 9 times (4%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 9 times (4%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural 8 times (3%)
+43 more forms (99 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 232 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Page 2 of 2 — showing verses 201–204 of 204 distinct verses where H3423 appears, across 27 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Obadiah 3 verses
Micah 1 verse
Habakkuk 1 verse
Zechariah 1 verse
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
The Hebrew verb ירש centers on the idea of “to inherit.” Different stems carry different senses — BDB groups them under 4 stems, among them Qal and Niphal. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 204 verses — common. Deuteronomy dominates its distribution — 63 of 204 verses. First canonically at Genesis 15:3, it enters the text early. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3423 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 204
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 204 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #205
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 205 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 204 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 63 verses 31%
- Joshua 24 verses 12%
- Judges 21 verses 10%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 204 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 89 verses · 44%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 86 verses · 42%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 29 verses · 14%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Possess 53×, Drive out 12×, Possessed 9×
- American Standard Version: Possess 32×, Possess it 13×, Possessed 8×
- Berean Standard Bible: Possess 47×, Drive out 15×, Take possession of 9×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Possess 33×, Possess it 29×, Dispossess 15×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3423 across 232 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 87 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H3423 across 231 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 89 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H3423 across 230 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 85 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3423 across 265 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 77 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
16 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 16 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. יָרַשׁ Je 49:1; וְיָרַשׁ consec. Je 49:2 Nu 27:11; 2 ms. יָרָ֑שְׁתָּ 1 K 21:19; וְיָרַשְׁתָּ֫ Dt 6:18 + 2 times; sf. וִירִשְׁתָּהּ consec. Dt 17:14 + 2 times (on this and kindred forms v. Köi. 406, 411); וִירִשְׁתָּם consec. Dt 19:1; 31:3; 3 pl. יָֽרְשׁוּ Dt 3:20 +; sf. וִירֵשׁוּךָ consec. Ez 36:12 (Köl.c.); וִירֵשׁוּהָ consec. Is 34:11 + 3 times; 2 mpl. וִירִשְׁתֶּם consec. Dt 4:1 + 7 times; 1 pl. יָרַשְׁנוּ Dt 3:12, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִירַשׁ Gn 21:10 ψ 25:13; 2 mpl. תִּירְשׁוּ Lv 20:24 1 Ch 28:8; תִּירָ֑שׁוּ Ez 33:25, 26; תִּירָשׁ֑וּן Dt 5:30, etc.; Imv. ms. יְרָ֑שָׁה Dt 33:23; רֵשׁ Dt 1:21 1 K 21:15; רָ֑שׁ Dt 2:24, 31; mpl. וּרְשׁוּ Dt 1:8; 9:23; Inf. cstr. לָרֶ֫שֶׁת Dt 2:31 + 17 times; לָרָ֑שֶׁת Ne 9:23; sf. לְרִשְׁתְּךָ Gn 28:4; לְרִשְׁתּוֹ 1 K 21:16, 18; לְרִשְׁתָּהּ Gn 15:7 + 28 times; Pt. יוֹרֵשׁ Gn 15:3 + 6 times; pl. י(וֹ)רְשִׁים Dt 12:2 Je 8:10; sf. יֹרְשָׁיו Je 49:2;— e.g. Jeremiah 49:1
- 1. take possession of, especially by force, have as a possession, often with collat. idea of taking in place of others, succeeding to, inheriting (cf. 2:
- a. land, sq. acc. Gn 15:7, 8 Nu 13:30; 21:24, 35 Jos 18:3 (all JE), 24:4, 8 (E), Ju 2:6; 11:21, 22, 23, 24(×2); 18:9 Dt 1:8, 21, 39 + 25 times Dt, + †Dt 11:31; 17:14; 26:1 (all possess land and dwell therein), similarly Is 65:9(×2) ψ 69:36; בְּאַרְצָם מִשְׁנֶה יִירָ֑שׁוּ Is 61:7 in their land they shall possess the double; הָחֵל רָשׁ Dt 2:24; הָחֵל רָשׁ לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת־אַרְצוֹ v 31; especially phr. (הארץ) שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ (etc. עֹבְרִים) אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם בָּאִים Dt 4:5, 14, 26 + 12 times Dt, also Ezr 9:10; v. Dt 30:18 Jos 1:11(×2), 15(×2); 12:1; 13:1; 21:41; 23:5 (all D); Am 2:10 Ob 19, 19 Hb 1:6 Ez 33:24, 25, 26 Lv 20:24(×2) (H), Gn 28:4 Nu 33:53 (both P), 1 Ch 28:8 Ne 9:15, 22, 23, 24; ψ 25:13; 37:9, 11, 22, 29, 34; + ב instr. 44:4; also וַעֲמַל לְאֻמִּים יִירָ֑שׁוּ 105:44 (‖ (וִיִּתֵּן לָהֶם אַרְצוֹת גּוֹיִם); †take possession of fields Je 8:10 (obj. not expr.), 1 K 21:15, 16, 18, 19 ψ 83:13; inheritance (in land) Nu 27:11; 36:8(×2) (all P); city (cities), Jos 19:47 (JE), Ju 3:13 Ob 20; so הַר־קָדְשִׁי Is 57:13 (‖ נחל ארץ), 63:18 where read prob. הַר־קָדְשֶׁ֑ךָ (for MT עַם־ק׳, see 𝔊 VB and ‖ cl.); possess city and dwell therein 2 K 17:24 Is 34:17; Is 34:11 yea the pelican and bittern shall possess it; so of nettles Ho 9:6; וְיִרַשׁ זַרְעֲךָ אֵת שַׁעַר אֹיְבָיו Gn 22:17, cf. 24:60 (both J); possess houses Ez 7:24 (del. Co), Ne 9:25; יוֹרֵשׁ עֶצֶר Ju 18:7 possessing wealth (? see VB)†. e.g. Genesis 15:7
- b. a people (with collat. idea of being their heir (2), and so dispossessing them), so especially in Dt 2:12, 21, 22; 9:1 (+ cities), 11:23; 12:2, 29(×2); 18:14; 19:1; 31:3; Nu 21:32 (Kt וַיִּירַשׁ; JE), Am 9:12; מַדּוּעַ יָרַשׁ מִלְכֹּם אֶת־גָּ֑ד Je 49:1 (on text see VB), v 2, 2 (in these 3 perhaps play on meaning inherit, cf. v 1 a); Ez 36:12 Ob 17 Is 54:3; nations + countries Ez 35:10. e.g. Deuteronomy 2:12
- 2. inherit, sq. acc. pers. = be one’s heir Gn 15:3, 4(×2) (JE); שִׁפְחָה כִּי־תִירַשׁ גְּבִרְתָּהּ Pr 30:23 (or, dispossess?); abs. be heir, sq. עִם pers. = jointly with 21:10 (E); (הַ)יּוֹרֵשׁ (the) heir 2 S 14:7 Je 49:1 (‖ בָּנִים); Mi 1:15 (= possessor, captor), where paronom. with n.pr.loc. מָרֵשָׁה; inherit persons, as slaves לָרֶשֶׁת אֲחֻזָּה Lv 25:46 (H). e.g. Genesis 15:3
- 3. = impoverish, הַלְיָרְשֵׁנוּ קְרָאתֶם (var. Pi. הַלְיָֽרְ׳ Ju 14:15 (v. Ges§ 69 m)) to impoverish us did ye call (us)? e.g. Judges 14:15
Niphal
- Impf. יִוָּרֵשׁ Pr 23:21; 2 ms. תִּוָּרֵשׁ Gn 45:11 Pr 20:13; אִוָּרֵשׁ Pr 30:9;—be (dispossessed =) impoverished, come to poverty Gn 45:11 (E), Pr 20:13; 23:21; 30:9 (opp. אֶשְׂבַּע). e.g. Proverbs 23:21
Piel
- Impf. פְּרִי אַדְמָתֶ֑ךָ יְיָרֵשׁ הַצְּלָצַֽל Dt 28:42 the fruit of thy ground shall the cricket get full possession of (cf. Qal Ho 9:6 Is 34:11), i.e. devour. e.g. Deuteronomy 28:42
Hiphil
- Pf. 3 ms. הוֹרִישׁ Ju 1:27 +; 2 ms. הוֹרַשְׁתָּ 2 Ch 20:7 ψ 44:3, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יוֹרִישׁ Jos 3:10; וַיּ֫(וֹ)רֶשׁ Ju 1:19 +; 3 fs. sf. 3 mpl. תּוֹרִישֵׁמוּ Ex 15:9, etc.; Inf. abs. הוֹרֵשׁ Jos 3:10; 17:13; הוֹרֵישׁ Ju 1:28; cstr. לְהוֹרִישׁ Dt 4:38 +, etc.; Pt. מוֹרִישׁ 1 S 2:7 Dt 18:12; sf. מוֹרִישָׁם Dt 9:4, 5;— e.g. Judges 1:27
- 1. cause to possess, or inherit Ju 11:24; מִיְּרֻשָֽׁתְךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹרַשְׁתָּנוּ 2 Ch 20:11; sq. ל pers., וְהוֹרַשְׁתֶּם לִבְנֵיכֶם Ezr 9:12 and cause your sons to inherit (it); fig. תּוֹרִישֵׁנִי עֲוֹנוֹת נְעוּרָ֑י Jb 13:26 thou makest me to inherit (the consequences of) the iniquities of my youth. e.g. Judges 11:24
- 2. cause (others) to possess or inherit, then gen. dispossess:
- a. sq. acc. gent. vel pers., Jos 13:13; 16:10 (both JE), Ju 1:29, 30, 31, 32, 33 (all opp. ישׁב בְּקֶרֶב), Jos 14:12 (JE), 17:13 (JE; הוֹרֵשׁ לֹא הוֹרִישׁוֹ), Ju 1:28 (id.); opp. ישׁב אֵת Jos 15:63; opp. ישׁב בְּ Ju 1:21, 27; also Nu 21:32 Qr, 32:39 Jos 17:18 (all JE), 13:12 (D), Ju 1:19b; 2:23; also וַיֹּרֶשׁ אֶת־הָהָר 1:19a (= את־יושׁבי ההר see v b), Dt 7:17 ψ 44:3; וְהוֹרַשְׁתָּם וְהַאֲבַדְתָּם Dt 9:3; sq. acc. + מִפְּנֵי Ex 34:24 Nu 32:21 Jos 3:10 (הוֹרֵשׁ יוֹרִישׁ; all these JE), Dt 4:38; 9:4, 5; 18:12 Jos 13:6; 23:9 (both D), Nu 33:52, 55 (both P), Ju 2:21; 11:23, 24 1 K 14:24; 21:26 2 K 16:3; 17:8; 21:2 (all D), 2 Ch 28:3; 33:2; acc. + מִלִּפְנֵי Dt 11:23 Jos 23:5, 13 (D; ‖ הָדַף), 2 Ch 20:7; acc. + מִשָּׁם Jos 15:14 (JE) = Ju 1:20; of cities (i.e. their inhabitants) Jos 8:7; 17:12; so of a land = Nu 33:53 (P), see v 52, 55 [𝔊 + יושׁבי] e.g. Joshua 13:13
- b. sq. acc. rei, מִבִּטְנוֹ יֹרִשֶׁנּוּ אֵל Jb 20:15 God shall cast them out of his belly, i.e. riches (‖ חַיִל בָּלַע וַיְקִאֶנּוּ). e.g. Job 20:15
- 3. = impoverish, יהוה מוֹרִישׁ וּמַעֲשׁיר 1 S 2:7 (song) י׳ impoverisheth and maketh rich; sq. acc. (of Tyre) אֲדֹנָי יוֹרִשֶׁנָּה Zc 9:4 (see v 3). e.g. 1 Samuel 2:7
- 4. nearly = bring to ruin, destroy, sq. acc. gent. אָרִיק חַרְבִּי תּוֹרִישֵׁמוֹ יָדִי Ex 15:9 (poem in E); so perhaps also Nu 14:12 (JE; AV disinherit; ‖ אַכֶּנּוּ בַדֶּבֶר). e.g. Exodus 15:9
- 5. = Qal take possession of a land Nu 14:24 (JE), but read prob. יִרָשֶׁנָּה. e.g. Numbers 14:24
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. take possession of, inherit, dispossess (MI7 וירש take possession of; Aramaic יְרֵית, ܝܺܪܶܬ take possession of, and be heir to, inherit; so Ethiopic ወረሰ Arabic وَرِثَ inherit; v. also Sab. ורתֿ, inherit, CISiv, 37, 3), especially D (62 times Qal, 1 times Pi, 7 times Hiph. in Dt + 13 times D in Jos);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
יָרַשׁ
- (b. h.) [to enter into, take the place of,] to conquer; to take possession, to succeed, inherit. Gen. R. s. 11, end י׳ את העולם במדה had his worldly share assigned to him with limitation. Gen. R. s. 44 ליוֹרְשֵׁנִי to be my heir. B. Bath. VIII, 5 איש … לא יִירַשׁ וכ׳ this man, my son, shall not be an heir with the rest of his brothers. Ib. בתי תִירָֹשֵנִי my daughter shall be my heiress. Ib. ראוי ליוֹרְשׁוֹ entitled to succeed him. Ib. IX, 1 (139ᵇ) הבנים יִירְשׁוּ (Bab. ed. יֵרְשׁוּ) the sons take possession of the estate; a. fr.—V. יוֹרֵשׁ.
- 1. to cause to inherit, to leave by will or by the law of succession; to transmit. Ib. 119ᵇ מוֹרִישִׁין ואינן יורשין they shall leave (the Holy Land to their children) but shall not take possession themselves. Shebu. 47ᵃ אין אדם מוֹרִישׁ שבועה לבניו a man cannot transmit an oath to his sons, i.e. property to be obtained only by the claimant’s oath cannot be claimed by his heirs. Keth. 43ᵃ; Kidd. 16ᵇ אין אדם מוריש זכות בתו וכ׳ a man cannot bequeathe his daughter’s privileges to his sons. B. Bath. IX, 8 if the house fell עליו ועל מוֹרִישָׁיו over himself (the heir) and his ancestors; a. fr.
- 2. to drive out, dispossess. Sifré Deut. 51 סמוך … לא הוֹרַשְׁתָּ (the Jebusite) who is near thy palace thou hast not driven out; a. e.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 163 distinct written forms H3423 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 103 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3423, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- ירשה yᵉrêshâh H3424 possession
- ירשה yᵉrushshâh H3425 inheritance
- מורש môwrâsh H4180 possession
- רשת resheth H7568 net
- תירוש tîyrôwsh H8492 wine
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 193 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 204 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 15:3
- Exodus 15:9
- Leviticus 20:24
- Numbers 13:30
- Deuteronomy 1:8
- Joshua 1:11
- Judges 1:19
- 1 Samuel 2:7
- 2 Samuel 14:7
- 1 Kings 21:15
- 2 Kings 16:3
- 1 Chronicles 28:8
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
