Bible Strands
Psalms 78:55
He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist recounts Israel's conquest narrative, describing God's prior actions of displacing inhabitants and distributing territory before the tribes took up residence.
The words — The text uses גָּרַשׁ (ga·rash, "drove out") and חֶבֶל (che·vel, "measuring-line") alongside נָחֲלָה (na·cha·lah, "inheritance") to describe forced displacement and territorial division.
The thread — This pattern of driving out nations and allotting land appears in Joshua 13:7; Psalms 44:2; and Nehemiah 9:22.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that territorial possession originated from divine action rather than human effort, framing subsequent obedience as the expected response to that provision.
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
He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
Cross-references
- Joshua 13:7 Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”
- Psalms 44:2 With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Nehemiah 9:22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.
- Deuteronomy 6:10 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,
- Numbers 33:54 And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.
- Joshua 6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
- Psalms 105:44 He gave them the lands of the nations, that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor,
- Psalms 136:18 and slaughtered mighty kings—His loving devotion endures forever.
- Joshua 19:51 These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.
- Joshua 23:4 See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.