StrongerBible

aḥuzzah

אֲחֻזָּה

HebrewH0272possession, property, ...

Appears 66 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 17:8Gen 23:4Gen 23:9Gen 23:20Gen 36:43Gen 47:11Gen 48:4Gen 49:30Gen 50:13Lev 14:34 (2×)Lev 25:10Lev 25:13Lev 25:24Lev 25:25Lev 25:27Lev 25:28Lev 25:32Lev 25:33 (2×)Lev 25:34Lev 25:41Lev 25:45Lev 25:46Lev 27:16Lev 27:21Lev 27:22Lev 27:24Lev 27:28Num 27:4Num 27:7Num 32:5Num 32:22Num 32:29Num 32:32Num 35:2Num 35:28Deu 32:49Jos 21:12Jos 22:4Jos 22:9Jos 22:191Ch 7:281Ch 9:22Ch 11:14Psa 2:8Ezk 44:28 (2×)Ezk 45:5Ezk 45:8Ezk 46:16Ezk 46:18
Root family
Word studya-khooz-ZAHnoun

What aḥuzzah means

a permanent holding: land (or property) held in lasting, heritable ownership

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

Achuzzah names something a person or group owns and keeps, with the ownership treated as settled and passed down rather than temporary. It comes from the verb meaning to grasp or take firm hold, so the picture is of something seized and kept fast. In practice the word is almost always about land: the family's allotted piece of ground, held in perpetuity and handed on to the next generation.

The senses below are not different meanings so much as the same idea seen in different settings. The core is always a secure, lasting holding. What shifts is what is held and how: a clan's farmland and towns, a grave bought to bury one's dead, even purchased servants counted as lasting property, or, in one royal poem, the nations themselves given to the king as his to keep.

The land laws of Leviticus and Numbers give the word much of its weight. Israel's land was understood as God's gift, parceled out by tribe and family, and an achuzzah could not be sold off forever: in the Jubilee year it returned to the family that originally held it. So the word carries an idea of ownership that is real and defensible yet still answerable to God, who remains the true owner of the land.

Nuances

1aa permanent holding of land: the family or tribal allotment, owned in perpetuity and handed down
Gen 17:8Gen 47:11Gen 48:4Lev 25:10Lev 25:13Lev 25:25Lev 25:34Lev 25:41Lev 27:16Lev 27:24Num 27:4Num 27:7
1ba burial holding: a piece of ground secured to bury one's dead, in the recurring phrase a possession for a burying place
Gen 23:4Gen 23:9Gen 23:20Gen 49:30Gen 50:13
1cpeople held as lasting property: purchased foreign servants counted as a permanent holding passed on to one's heirs
Lev 25:45Lev 25:46
1da granted domain: the nations given to the king as his to keep, an extended use of the land-grant idea
Psa 2:8
1eGod's own holding: the LORD himself as the priests' portion in place of land, and the land as the LORD's possession
Jos 22:19Ezk 44:28 (2×)

What scholars say about aḥuzzah

The standard lexica treat this word as essentially one term meaning a permanent holding or possession, overwhelmingly of land, derived from the verb to seize or grasp firmly. BDB and HALOT class it under the priestly and legal vocabulary of land tenure, noting its concentration in Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, and Ezekiel and the recurring idiom for a burial holding. Theological dictionaries connect it to Israel's understanding of the land as God's gift, distributed by family and protected by the Jubilee, distinguishing it from but pairing it with the more common word for inheritance.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. אֲחֻזָּהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. אֲחֻזָּהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. אֲחֻזָּהlexicon
  • TWOT, no. 64b (אָחַז), s.v.theological-dictionary

All attested forms of אֲחֻזָּה

f s construct

אֲחֻזַּת

Gen 17:8, Gen 23:4, Gen 23:9, Gen 23:20, Gen 48:4, Gen 49:30, Gen 50:13, Lev 25:34

f s construct

אֲחֻזָּתוֹ

Lev 25:10, Lev 25:13, Lev 25:25, Lev 25:27, Lev 25:28, Lev 25:33, Lev 27:16, Lev 27:21

f s absolute

אֲחֻזָּה

Gen 47:11, Lev 14:34, Lev 25:45, Lev 25:46, Num 27:4, Num 32:5, Num 32:22, Num 32:29

f s construct

אֲחֻזָּתָם

Gen 36:43, Lev 25:32, Lev 25:33, Num 35:2, Jos 22:9, 1Ch 7:28, 1Ch 9:2, 2Ch 11:14

f s construct

אֲחֻזַּתְכֶם

Lev 14:34, Lev 25:24, Jos 22:4, Jos 22:19

f s construct

אֲחֻזָּתְךָ

Psa 2:8