
And you shall share the rest equally. As I swore to give it to your fathers, so shall this land fall to you as your heritage
Ezekiel 47:14 (The Israel Bible™)
וּנְחַלְתֶּם אוֹתָהּ אִישׁ כְּאָחִיו אֲשֶׁר נָשָׂאתִי אֶת־יָדִי לְתִתָּהּ לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם וְנָפְלָה הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לָכֶם בְּנַחֲלָה
Hear the verse in Hebrew
un-khal-TEM o-TAH EESH k’-a-KHEEV a-SHER na-SA-tee et ya-DEE l’-ti-TAH la-a-vo-tay-KHEM v’-NA-f’-LAH ha-A-retz ha-ZOT la-KHEM b’-na-kha-LAH
Why is Israel Compared to a Stream?
In Biblical Hebrew, the word for "inheritance" is
nachalah (נחלה). The root of this word,
nakhal (נחל), also means "a flowing stream," as in Deuteronomy (8:7), “A land with streams and springs and fountains.” These two ideas are connected: Just like a stream of water flows downward, so too, the inheritance of a precious legacy passes from one generation to the next. Such is the connection between the Children of Israel and the Land of Israel, which is their inheritance, given to
Avraham (Abraham) and passed down to
Yitzchak(Isaac) and to all subsequent generations.