to inherit: to come into secure, rightful possession of something, as an heir receives what is set aside for them
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
At its root this word pictures an heir coming into a portion that has been kept for them. It is not simply getting something; it is receiving what is rightfully yours and holding it as a permanent possession.
Once in the New Testament it keeps the plain legal sense of an heir sharing an estate. Everywhere else it is stretched to describe the gifts God promises: the kingdom, eternal life, the earth, salvation, the promises, a blessing. These are all "inherited," meaning received and kept forever as a possession God grants to his children.
The related noun (κληρονομία) names the inheritance itself, and the person who receives it is the heir (κληρονόμος). Behind the Greek stands the Old Testament picture of Israel taking possession of the promised land (ירשׁ), which gives the word a more active, forward-leaning feel than the quiet English "inherit" usually carries.
Nuances
1ato inherit property as a legal heir: to receive a share of an estate
TranslatabilityDirect
Gal 4:30
1bto come into secure possession of what God grants: the kingdom, eternal life, salvation, and other promised gifts
Names the act of coming into possession, with a person as the one who receives and the thing received as its object: to inherit the kingdom (Matthew 25:34), eternal life (Matthew 19:29), or the earth (Matthew 5:5).Mat 25:34Mat 19:29Mat 5:5
Sets a moral and eschatological gate by naming who will NOT receive: the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9), flesh and blood cannot inherit it (1 Corinthians 15:50), and those who practice such things will not inherit it (Galatians 5:21).1Co 6:91Co 15:50Gal 5:21
Describes obtaining rank or blessing by right: the Son inherited a name above the angels (Hebrews 1:4), while the patient inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12) and a blessing (1 Peter 3:9).Heb 1:4Heb 6:121Pe 3:9
Both
Both center on the future possession of God's kingdom and salvation, one as the act of entering into it and the other as the thing kept in store: inheriting the kingdom (Matthew 25:34) and an inheritance reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4).Mat 25:341Pe 1:4
Both frame the possession as something God promised and gives, not something earned by law: the promises are inherited through faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12), and the inheritance comes by promise (Galatians 3:18).Heb 6:12Gal 3:18
Names the estate or property itself as the object in view, especially in a family or legal dispute: the tenants scheme to seize the vineyard owner's inheritance (Matthew 21:38,Mark 12:7), and a man asks for his share of the family inheritance (Luke 12:13).Mat 21:38Mrk 12:7Luk 12:13
Denotes the promised land as a concrete allotment: Abraham was given no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground (Acts 7:5), yet he went out to the place he would later receive as an inheritance (Hebrews 11:8).Act 7:5Heb 11:8
Names the believer's settled, kept possession as a thing already secured: the Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:14), it is reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4), and it is received as a reward (Colossians 3:24).Eph 1:141Pe 1:4Col 3:24
κληρονόμοςthe heir, the person who inherits, where this word is what the heir does
κτάομαιto acquire or get something for oneself, often by effort or purchase, rather than receiving it as a granted portion
Coming into possession by inheritance: receiving what is handed down or bequeathed, not something one earns or buys.Mat 19:29Gal 4:30Heb 1:4
The word for entering God's promised allotment, the kingdom or the earth or eternal life received as a gift held out to his people.Mat 5:5Mat 25:341Co 6:9Rev 21:7
Both
Both describe a person coming into ownership of something they did not have before, arriving at a settled possession.Mat 25:34Act 22:28
Coming into possession by purchase or payment, buying a thing outright with money or a price.Act 1:18Act 8:20Act 22:28
Getting or securing something by one's own effort or provision, whether goods one carries or a mastery one must gain.Mat 10:9Luk 18:121Th 4:4Luk 21:19
klēronomeō in the other biblical languages
יָרַשׁHebrew“to possess: take”the forceful Hebrew word for taking possession, often by dispossessing enemies and seizing the land, more aggressive than the Greek's usual receiving
Centers on receiving something as an appointed heir, a portion bestowed rather than seized. The object is characteristically future and given: the kingdom, eternal life, all things.Mat 25:34Mat 19:29Rev 21:7
Both
Both name coming into a rightful inheritance by legal succession, so much so that the New Testament renders the Hebrew statement with the Greek word: Genesis says the slave woman's son shall not be heir, and Galatians quotes that verse using this Greek verb.Gen 21:10Gal 4:30
Both describe taking possession of a promised inheritance, the land or the earth given to God's people as their own portion.Gen 15:7Mat 5:5
Carries an active sense of taking possession, often by force, driving out the prior occupants and occupying their land. This dispossession-by-conquest shade has no counterpart in the Greek word.Num 33:52Num 21:32Deu 2:12
נָחַלHebrew“to inherit”the Hebrew word for receiving an apportioned inheritance, especially the tribal land allotments handed down as a settled possession
In the New Testament the thing inherited is almost always a future, God-given reward rather than land: the kingdom of God, eternal life, or salvation itself.Mat 25:34Luk 18:181Co 15:50
It can warn as well as promise: certain people are said to be shut out and to receive no share, so the word marks who is in and who is out of the coming inheritance.1Co 6:9Gal 5:21
Both
Both name receiving a lasting possession that is granted as a gift, not earned, and is meant to be held for good.Num 18:24Mat 19:29
The Greek word is the standard New Testament rendering for this Old Testament idea, so when the New Testament promises that the meek will inherit the earth it draws directly on the older language of inheriting the land.Psa 82:8Mat 5:5
In the Old Testament the thing inherited is concrete territory: the land of Canaan and the specific plots handed out to tribes and families as their permanent holding.Num 34:13Jos 14:1Num 33:54
It also describes the act of parceling out and assigning the land, so it can mean to give as a holding, not only to receive one.Num 34:29Jos 19:51
What scholars say about klēronomeō
Formed from κλῆρος ("lot, allotted portion") plus the root of νέμομαι ("to have, to hold"), the verb originally denoted receiving an allotted portion or being an heir. In the Septuagint it renders chiefly ירשׁ and נחל and becomes bound up with Israel's taking possession of the land. In the New Testament the ordinary estate sense recedes, surviving in the quotation of Genesis 21:10 at Galatians 4:30, and the word is dominated by the eschatological sense of coming into possession of promised salvific goods, whether the kingdom, eternal life, or the blessing. Standard reference works treat the whole cluster together, tracing the shift from legal inheritance to the theology of believers as heirs of God.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. κληρονομέωlexicon
W. Foerster and J. Herrmann, "κλῆρος, κληρονόμος, κληρονομέω κτλ.," TDNT 3:758-785dictionary