κληρόω

From the study of Ephesians 1:11

Range of meaning

From κλῆρος (klēros), a 'lot': originally a pebble or marked shard shaken out of a container. From there it came to mean the share assigned by lot, and then any allotted portion or inheritance. The verb klēroō means (1) to cast lots or choose by lot, (2) to appoint or assign by lot, (3) to allot a share to someone. In the passive it means 'to be chosen by lot', 'to be assigned', or 'to be made a portion'.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB and WEB have 'obtained (or were assigned) an inheritance', which makes us the ones who receive. NIV and BSB have 'were chosen' ('chosen as God's own'), which makes us the ones God selects or claims. Neither keeps the image of the lot itself.

How it drifted

'Inheritance' in modern English means property passed on at death. That sense is foreign to κλῆρος here. God does not die, and the Old Testament background is about land or people assigned as a portion. The 'chosen' renderings lose the lot imagery and blur this verse into verse 4 ('he chose us', a different verb, ἐξελέξατο).

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), the noun κλῆρος translates Hebrew goral ('lot') and naḥalah ('inheritance') throughout Numbers and Joshua, where the land is divided by lot. In 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) 14:41 LXX the passive verb is used when Jonathan 'was taken by the lot'. Deuteronomy 32:9 says the LORD's portion is his people and Jacob is 'the measured share of his inheritance', so Israel is God's allotment. The Dead Sea Scrolls use 'lot' (goral) for the people belonging to God versus those belonging to Belial. 1QS 11.7–8 says God has given his chosen ones 'an inheritance in the lot of the holy ones'. Colossians 1:12 offers a close parallel: 'the share of the lot of the saints in light'. In classical Greek, Athenian officials were κληρωτοί, 'appointed by lot'.