Inheritance (Verse List)

There are 226 verses in the ESV bible that mention inheritance. That is a large number. About double that number mention ‘faith’ and triple mention ‘love’. So the concept of ‘inheritance’ is important.

Following are some of those verses which i think convey the major themes.

General References to Inheritance

Gen 31:14 ESV  Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, “Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house?

Inheritance was important

Gen 48:6 ESV  And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

Num 27:7 ESV  “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them.
Num 27:8 ESV  And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
Num 27:9 ESV  And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.
Num 27:10 ESV  And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.
Num 27:11 ESV  And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the LORD commanded Moses.’”

Num 36:7 ESV  The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

Deu 19:14 ESV  “You shall not move your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.

1Ki 21:3 ESV  But Naboth said to Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers.”

Eze 46:18 ESV  The prince shall not take any of the inheritance of the people, thrusting them out of their property. He shall give his sons their inheritance out of his own property, so that none of my people shall be scattered from his property.”

Canaan was the promised inheritance

Exo 32:13 ESV  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

Lev 20:24 ESV  But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

Deu 21:23 ESV  his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Deu 26:1 ESV  “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it,

Jos 14:9 ESV  And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’

Rth 4:5 ESV  Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

1Ch 16:18 ESV  saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, as your portion for an inheritance.”

All nations  inherit  their land from the Lord

Deu 32:8 ESV  When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.

Israel was God’s inheritance

Exo 34:9 ESV  And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Deu 4:20 ESV  But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.

Jer 10:16 ESV  Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name.

The nations are God’s inheritance

Psa 82:8 ESV  Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

Slaves could be inherited

Lev 25:46 ESV  You may bequeath them to your sons after you to inherit as a possession forever. You may make slaves of them, but over your brothers the people of Israel you shall not rule, one over another ruthlessly.

Disinheritance was possible

Num 14:12 ESV  I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Heb 12:17 ESV  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Levities had no inheritance in the land because God was their inheritance

Num 18:20 ESV  And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

Num 18:23 ESV  But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, and among the people of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

Num 18:24 ESV  For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the LORD, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.”

Deu 10:9 ESV  Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God said to him.)

Eze 44:28 ESV  “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance: and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

Inheritance was according to population

Num 26:53 ESV  “Among these the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names.
Num 26:54 ESV  To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list.
Num 26:55 ESV  But the land shall be divided by lot. According to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.
Num 26:56 ESV  Their inheritance shall be divided according to lot between the larger and the smaller.”

Num 33:54 ESV  You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit.

Effort was required to inherit

Deu 1:38 ESV  Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

Deu 12:10 ESV  But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,

Jos 1:6 ESV  Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Jos 11:23 ESV  So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had spoken to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal allotments. And the land had rest from war.

Jos 13:6 ESV  all the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I myself will drive them out from before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel for an inheritance, as I have commanded you.

Jdg 2:6 ESV  When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.

Moses did not receive the inheritance

Deu 4:21 ESV  Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance.

Inheritance was conditional

Deu 16:20 ESV  Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Psa 37:9 ESV  For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

On humility

Psa 37:11 ESV  But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

Mat 5:5 ESV  “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

On righteousness

Psa 37:29 ESV  The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever.

Pro 28:10 ESV  Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.

On love for God

Psa 69:36 ESV  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Pro 8:21 ESV  granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

On trusting God

Isa 57:13 ESV  When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.

On obedience

1Ch 28:8 ESV  Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

Jos 14:14 ESV  Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.

Psa 37:34 ESV  Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Inheriting the kingdom of God is conditional

The immoral, idolaters, greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, unrighteous, thieves will not inherit

1Co 6:9-11 ESV  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Eph 5:5 ESV  For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Gal 5:21 ESV  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Flesh and blood will not inherit

1Co 15:50 ESV  I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Those who care for the disadvantaged (‘these little ones of mine’) will inherit

Mat 25:34-35 ESV  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, etc

Inherit through faith and patience

Heb 6:12 ESV  so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Heb 11:8 ESV  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Inherit eternal life through sacrifice

Mat 19:29 ESV  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Inheritance was a reward

Col 3:24 ESV  knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Inheritance is a promise/gift

Gal 3:18 ESV  For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Leaving an inheritance for children is good

Pro 13:22 ESV  A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

God will protect His inheritance

Jer 12:14 ESV  Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.

Punishment for polluting the inheritance

Jer 16:18 ESV  But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

Eternal life, salvation is inherited

Mat 19:29 ESV  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

Mar 10:17 ESV  And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luk 10:25 ESV  And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Luk 18:18 ESV  And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Act 20:32 ESV  And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Heb 1:14 ESV  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

The believers’ inheritance is in Christ

Eph 1:11 ESV  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Col 1:12 ESV  giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Heb 9:15 ESV  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance

Eph 1:13-14 ESV  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,  14  who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The believers’ inheritance is glorious

Eph 1:18 ESV  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

1Pe 1:4 ESV  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

1Pe 1:18 ESV  knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,