Ezekiel 47:21

47:21 “This is how you will divide this land for yourselves among the tribes of Israel.

Ezekiel 48:29

48:29 This is the land which you will allot to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the sovereign Lord.

Numbers 34:13

34:13 Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given ¹  to the nine and a half tribes,

Joshua 13:6

13:6 I will drive out before the Israelites all who live in the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth Maim, ²  all the Sidonians; you be sure to parcel it out to Israel as I instructed you.” ³ 

Joshua 14:2

14:2 The land assignments to the nine-and-a-half tribes were made by drawing lots, as the Lord had instructed Moses. ⁴ 

Psalms 16:5-6

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity; ⁵ 

you make my future secure. ⁶ 

16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields

or received a beautiful tract of land. ⁷ 

¹ tn The infinitive forms the direct object of what the Lord commanded. It actually means “to give,” but without an expressed subject may be made passive.

² tn The meaning of the Hebrew name “Misrephoth Maim” is perhaps “lime-kilns by the water” (see HALOT 2:641).

³ tn Heb “only you, assign it by lots to Israel as an inheritance as I commanded you.”

⁴ tn Heb “By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord had commanded by Moses, to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.”

⁵ tn Heb “O Lord, the portion of my possession and my cup”; or “the Lord [is] the portion of my possession and my cup.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel, and to a cup of wine, which may symbolize a reward (in Ps 11:6 it symbolizes the judgment one deserves) or divine blessing (see Ps 23:5). The metaphor highlights the fact that God is the psalmist’s source of security and prosperity.

⁶ tc Heb “you take hold of my lot.” The form תּוֹמִיךְ (tomikh) should be emended to a participle, תוֹמֵךְ (tomekh). The psalmist pictures the Lord as casting his lot (a method used to allot landed property) for him, thus assuring that he will receive a fertile piece of land (see v. 6). As in the previous line, land represents security and economic stability, thus “you make my future secure.”

⁷ tn Heb “measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant [places]; yes, property [or “an inheritance”] is beautiful for me.” On the dative use of עַל, see BDB 758 s.v. II.8. Extending the metaphor used in v. 5, the psalmist compares the divine blessings he has received to a rich, beautiful tract of land that one might receive by allotment or inheritance.