Bible Strands
1 Chronicles 16:18
‘I will give you the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Israel, confirming Canaan as their allotted inheritance within the framework of an everlasting covenant previously decreed to Jacob. This declaration functions as the substantive content of a communal recitation that acknowledges the people’s current minority and foreign status.
The words — The Hebrew אֶתֵּ֣ן ('e.Ten) literally means "I will give," and חֶ֖בֶל (Che.vel) translates to "portion" or measured lot. These terms establish the promise as a specific, divinely apportioned grant rather than a general blessing.
The thread — This allocation motif appears in Genesis 13:15 as a perpetual land grant to Abraham’s line, in Deuteronomy 32:8 where the Most High sets national boundaries, and in Numbers 26:53 where tribal inheritances are divided by census count. The consistent thread ties divine distribution to defined people and bounded geography.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to accept that inheritance is fixed by divine decree and geographic limit, removing grounds for self-directed expansion. It demands submission to a covenantal structure where possession follows allocation, not merit or numbers.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
Cross-references
- Genesis 13:15 for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
- Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
- Numbers 26:53 “The land is to be divided among the tribes as an inheritance, according to the number of names.
- Genesis 12:7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
- Genesis 17:8 And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”
- Genesis 28:13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
- Genesis 35:11 And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
- Micah 2:5 Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD to divide the land by lot.