Word study
Apportion
6 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: apportion, apportioned, apportions. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “apportion” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- נָחַל nâchalget or take as a possessiontranslated this way 2 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H5157Verb · Translated: inheritance 11, inherit 7, receive an inheritance 3, possess 2Full study and all 56 verses →
Numbers 34:29 These are the ones whom the LORD commanded to apportion the inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.
Isaiah 49:8 This is what the LORD says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,
- חָלַק châlaqdivide, sharetranslated this way 2 times of its 65 uses · Strong’s H2505Verb · Translated: divided 14, divide 9, distributed 4, dividing 3Full study and all 64 verses →
Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars— all the host of heaven— do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
Job 21:17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
- מָדַד mâdadmeasuretranslated this way 2 times of its 50 uses · Strong’s H4058Verb · Translated: measured 34, measure 5, Next he measured 3, apportion 2Full study and all 48 verses →
Psalm 60:6 God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem and apportion the Valley of Succoth.
Psalm 108:7 God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem and apportion the Valley of Succoth.
- כָּסַס kâsascomputetranslated this way 1 time of its 1 use · Strong’s H3699Verb · Translated: apportion 1Full study and its 1 verse →
Exodus 12:4 If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.
- נָתַן nâthangive, put, settranslated this way 1 time of its 1,957 uses · Strong’s H5414Verb · Translated: give 326, gave 206, given 187, put 135Full study and all 1,785 verses →
- נָפַל nâphalfall, lietranslated this way 1 time of its 432 uses · Strong’s H5307Verb · Translated: fall 104, fell 77, fallen 54, falls 21Full study and all 403 verses →
Psalm 78:55 He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
Greek words (New Testament)
- μερίζω merízōI divide, part, sharetranslated this way 1 time of its 14 uses · Strong’s G3307Verb · Translated: divided 9, assigned 2, divide 1, given 1Full study and all 13 verses →
Hebrews 7:2 and Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness.” Then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”
- διαιρέω diairéōI divide, distributetranslated this way 1 time of its 2 uses · Strong’s G1244Verb · Translated: divided 1, apportions 1Full study and all 2 verses →
1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, who apportions them to each one as He determines.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.