Aramaic word · H2508

חֲלָק

chalak

portion

Portion, share, lot: what is allotted to someone, whether land, food, inheritance or fate. The Hebrew equivalent ḥēleq is used for a tribe's land share, for 'the LORD is my portion' (Ps 16:5), and in Ecclesiastes for a person's lot in life.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

portion, possession, lot

Aramaic of che.leq (חֵ֫לֶק "portion" H2506A)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 4:15

Range of meaning

Portion, share, lot: what is allotted to someone, whether land, food, inheritance or fate. The Hebrew equivalent ḥēleq is used for a tribe's land share, for 'the LORD is my portion' (Ps 16:5), and in Ecclesiastes for a person's lot in life.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV keep 'portion'. BSB ('graze with the beasts') and NIV ('live with the animals') turn it into an action, which reads smoothly but loses the idea of an assigned lot.

Used elsewhere in the period

Biblical Aramaic: Ezra 4:16 ('you will have no portion in the province'); Daniel 4:15, 23. Hebrew ḥēleq is common throughout the Old Testament.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 4:16 חֲלָק֙ possession

    We advise the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, you will have no dominion west of the Euphrates.

Daniel · 2

  1. Daniel 4:15 חֲלָקֵ֖הּ portion its

    But leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth.

    Here: 'His portion', the share allotted to someone, his lot in life. The king who handed out shares to whole nations is given an animal's share.

  2. Daniel 4:23 חֲלָקֵ֔הּ portion its

    And you, O king, saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying: ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass him by.’

    Here: 'His portion': an allotted share or lot. The king who handed out portions to others now has his own share assigned among the beasts. The 'it' of the tree has turned into a 'him'.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.