Deuteronomy 32:9
in Deuteronomy 32But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For Jehovah’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
KJV
For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 32
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance
on Deuteronomy 32:8-9
The King James follows the Masoretic text, the number of the children of Israel. The Septuagint, other Greek witnesses and a Qumran scroll support the reading the Berean follows, “the number of the sons of God”.
This site's exposition
Jacob His allotted inheritance
The word behind allotted is the measuring cord used to mark out a field, so Jacob is pictured as the plot surveyed for God Himself. The other nations received territory, and Israel became His. Psalm 33:12 and 135:4 repeat the claim.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
A prediction of the wasting destroying judgments which God would bring upon them for their sins, in which God is here justified by the many aggravations of their impieties,
He has a particular delight in it: it is the beloved of his soul, in it he walks, he dwells, it is his rest for ever. He has a particular concern for it, keeps it as the apple of his eye. He has particular expectations from it, as a man has from his portion, has a much greater rent of honour, glory, and worship, from that distinguished remnant, than from all the world besides.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
As God shall help me, and relying only on His Divine assistance, I shall try to work out these two texts at some length. We shall commence with, "The Lord's portion.''" We will then proceed to the second, "His people's portion.''" I. "THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE." 1. The text teaches us that the Church of God is the Lord's own peculiar and special property. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein." By creation, as well as by Providence, Jehovah is the liege Lord and Sovereign possessor of the entire universe. Let none venture to dispute His claims, or say that He is not the great Owner of all things, for thus says the Lord, "Behold, all souls are Mine." But He has a special property in His Church. As a king may have ample possessions, to all of which he has undoubted right, still he has royal mansions and crown lands which are in a very special sense his own. So has the Lord of All a peculiar interest in His saints. As Osborne and Balmoral and Windsor belong to our sovereign by a tenure which differs from her title and claim to the United Kingdom, so the Church is the peculiar heritage of the King of kings. The whole world is God's by common right. He is Lord of the manor of the universe. But His Church is His garden, His cultivated and fenced field, and if He should give up His rights to all the rest of the wide earth, yet He never could relinquish His rights to His separated inheritance. "The Lord's portion is His people." How are they His? We answer, first, by His own sovereign choice. Before they were fashioned, all creatures lay in His mind's eye in the mass of creatureship, and it was in His power to make whom He would as vessels unto honor. He did so ordain to make His chosen and set His love upon them.
As God shall help me, and relying only on His Divine assistance, I shall try to work out these two texts at some length. We shall commence with, "The Lord's portion.''" We will then proceed to the second, "His people's portion.''" I. "THE LORD'S PORTION IS HIS PEOPLE." 1. The text teaches us that the Church of God is the Lord's own peculiar and special property. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell therein."
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The Lord’s portion is his people - What an astonishing saying! As holy souls take God for their portion, so God takes them for his portion. He represents himself as happy in his followers; and they are infinitely happy in, and satisfied with, God as their portion. This is what is implied in being a saint. He who is seeking for an earthly portion, has little commerce with the Most High.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The expression [ He kept him ] as the apple of His eye. Verse. alludes to watchfulness, the verse stating that G-d watched over him as He would shield “His own eye.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֛י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| חֵ֥לֶק | chelek | [the] portion of | H2506 → | 67 times |
| יְהֹוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עַמּ֑וֹ | amo | [is] people his | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| יַעֲקֹ֖ב | yaako | Jacob | H3290 → | 350 times |
| חֶ֥בֶל | chevel | [is] [the] measured portion of | H2256 → | 62 times |
| נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃ | nachalato | inheritance his | H5159 → | 222 times |
כִּ֛יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
חֵ֥לֶק[the] portion of
chelekH2506 →67 times
יְהֹוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עַמּ֑וֹ[is] people his
amoH5971 →1873 times
יַעֲקֹ֖בJacob
yaakoH3290 →350 times
חֶ֥בֶל[is] [the] measured portion of
chevelH2256 →62 times
נַחֲלָתֽוֹ׃inheritance his
nachalatoH5159 →222 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 10:16The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:18
You show loving devotion to thousands but lay the iniquity of the fathers into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of Hosts,
- Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the…
- Psalms 119:57
The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.
- Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Jeremiah 51:19
The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and of the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.
- Jeremiah 32:18
Through
1 Kings 8:53For You, O Lord GOD, as Your inheritance, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.”
it leads to
- Exodus 19:5–6
Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Exodus 19:5–6
Through
1 Kings 8:51For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:20
Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
- Nehemiah 1:10
They are Your servants and Your people. You redeemed them by Your great power and mighty hand.
- Deuteronomy 4:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies17
About Deuteronomy
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 451: “Choice Portions” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm.