אֲחֻזָּה

From the study of Psalm 2:8

Range of meaning

A holding: property, especially land, that one grasps and holds (from ʾaḥaz, "to seize, grasp"). Used of Abraham's burial plot (Genesis 23:4, 9, 20), of Canaan as "an everlasting possession" (Genesis 17:8; 48:4), and of family land holdings in the Jubilee laws (Leviticus 25:10–34).

Against the English

"Possession" in all major versions. Accurate, though modern "possession" can mean any owned object; here it means land held under secure title.

Used elsewhere in the period

Often paired with naḥalah (e.g., Numbers 27:4–7; 32:32; Joshua 22:9, 19). Septuagint: κατάσχεσις (kataschesis, "holding, possession"), its standard word for the Abrahamic land promise.

From the study of Genesis 17:8

Range of meaning

From achaz, "to grasp, seize, hold fast." It means a holding: landed property held by legal right, especially family land that is inherited and passed on. The word is close to nachalah, "inheritance," but stresses secure tenure, land that one has hold of.

Against the English

"Possession" is accurate but abstract. A modern reader can hear "belongings" or simply "ownership." The Hebrew pictures a family's grip on a piece of land, recognised by others and handed down.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 23:4, 9, 20: Abraham's first and only achuzzah in his lifetime is the cave of Machpelah, an achuzzat qever ("burial holding") bought for full price from the Hittites. Gen 47:11: Joseph gives his family an achuzzah in Egypt. Lev 25:10–34 uses the word throughout the Jubilee law: every family returns to its achuzzah, and ancestral land cannot be sold permanently, because God owns the land. The Septuagint uses kataschesis ("holding"), which Acts 7:5 quotes: God "gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's breadth, but promised to give it to him as a kataschesis."

From the study of Genesis 23:20

Range of meaning

From ʾāḥaz, "to grasp, seize, hold." A landed holding: property held permanently and passed to heirs, especially land. In Leviticus 25 it is the family's ancestral land that may not be sold forever. In Numbers and Joshua it is a tribe's allotted territory.

Against the English

"Possession" (KJV, WEB) is accurate but weak: in modern English a possession can be any object you own. ESV "property" is closer. BSB drops the word altogether ("as a burial site"), which loses the link to the promise.

How it drifted

Mild: English "possession" has broadened to mean belongings in general, while ʾăḥuzzāh is specifically land held as a family's lasting estate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 17:8 (God promises Canaan "as an everlasting ʾăḥuzzāh"); Gen 23:4, 9, 20; 49:30; 50:13 (all "ʾăḥuzzat qāber" for Machpelah); Gen 36:43; 47:11; Lev 25:10, 13, 24, 34.