And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe:

NUMBERS 34:13KJV
Know the Bible

Numbers 34:13 (KJV)

What does Numbers 34:13 mean?

Numbers 34:13 identifies the land Moses has just described as the territory to be divided among nine and a half tribes of Israel. The division will be made by lot, and Moses presents the gift of the land as something the LORD has commanded.

After the boundary description in the preceding verses, Moses speaks to the children of Israel about who will receive the land inside those borders. The phrase “by lot” points to a method of assigning shares, rather than leaving each tribe to choose its own territory.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 34:13

  • “inherit” — נָחַל (naḥal): The word carries the sense of receiving a possession or allotted share. Here the land is described as a lasting possession for the tribes, not merely a place for them to pass through.
  • “lot” — גּוֹרָל (goral): The word refers to a lot used in making an assignment. It shows that the tribes’ shares were to be assigned through a recognized procedure.

Why Numbers 34:13 matters

  • The nine and a half tribes do not represent all of Israel’s tribes. Numbers 34:14–15 explains that the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the other half-tribe of Manasseh had received land east of the Jordan River.
  • The verse joins Moses’ command to an earlier command from the LORD. Moses tells the people that the LORD had ordered the land to be given to the tribes named here.
  • The borders matter because they define the land being distributed. “This is the land” points back to the boundary description in Numbers 34:3–12.

Where else these words appear

“nine” Hebrew H8672 · used in 57 verses

  • Genesis 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
  • Deuteronomy 3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.
  • 2 Kings 25:8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:

“inherit” Hebrew H5157 · used in 59 verses

  • Exodus 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
  • Deuteronomy 19:14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
  • Proverbs 3:35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

“lot” Hebrew H1486 · used in 67 verses

  • Leviticus 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
  • Joshua 19:32 The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, even for the children of Naphtali according to their families.
  • 1 Chronicles 26:14 And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a wise counsellor, they cast lots; and his lot came out northward.

“half” Hebrew H2677 · used in 103 verses

  • Exodus 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
  • Joshua 14:2 By lot was their inheritance, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half tribe.
  • 1 Chronicles 12:31 And of the half tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, which were expressed by name, to come and make David king.