Possessions are the goods and property belonging to a person or household. The word identifies what people have; it does not decide whether they acquired it justly or whether retaining it is their highest responsibility.
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Full entry for רְכוּשׁ (H7399) · Open the biblical lexicon
Possessions are the goods and property belonging to a person or household. The word identifies what people have; it does not decide whether they acquired it justly or whether retaining it is their highest responsibility.
The BSB source-word alignment has 28 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the goods (3), the possessions (3), and his possessions (2), possessions (2), their possessions (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (11), 2 Chronicles (6), Ezra (4), Daniel (3).
Possessions are the goods and property belonging to a person or household. The word identifies what people have; it does not decide whether they acquired it justly or whether retaining it is their highest responsibility. Genesis 13:6 describes abundant possessions becoming part of a practical conflict because the land cannot support Abram and Lot together. Genesis 14:16 includes goods among what Abram retrieves, but it also names Lot, women and other people, preventing the recovery from being reduced to material success.
Ezra 8:21 includes possessions alongside families in a prayer for a safe journey. Property is therefore neither invisible to faith nor equivalent to the people who use it. Scripture can describe its management, loss and recovery while placing those concerns within relationships, responsibility and dependence on God.
Narrative places household property within limited land, rescue from captivity and a vulnerable journey. The witnesses make possessions a real concern while retaining the distinct value and needs of people.
But the land was unable to support both of them while they stayed together, for they had so many possessions that they were unable to coexist.
The land's inability to support both households turns abundant possessions into a source of strain, and Abram's following appeal seeks peace between kinsmen.
He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.
The recovery includes goods, Lot and other people; the narrated rescue cannot be measured only by the quantity of property returned.
And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
The community asks for a safe journey for adults, children and possessions together; prayer names the practical vulnerability of traveling with households.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Accumulated wealth understood as actively gathered possessions, emphasizing property amassed through acquisition rather than inherent status
Accumulated wealth understood as actively gathered possessions, emphasizing property amassed through acquisition rather than inherent status
property (as gathered) BDB: property Usage: good, riches, substance.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 28 lexical occurrence verses.
רְכוּשׁ is built from this root:
Genesis 13 does not portray abundance as capable of solving every problem. The possessions of Abram and Lot exceed what the shared land can support, and the resulting pressure appears in conflict between their herdsmen. Abram's response brings kinship and peace into the decision about space. The story gives teachers an opportunity to ask whether retaining the most advantageous arrangement has become more important than treating another person faithfully.
Genesis 14 then records recovery of goods together with people taken in war, while Ezra's prayer openly includes family property among the needs entrusted to God. These accounts allow serious attention to material provision without making accumulation the measure of a life. They invite responsible care for what belongs to a household under the greater obligations of love and trust.
Gen.13.6
This collective property noun names an accumulation of goods. Its presence beside words for children or other people does not merge persons into possessions; the surrounding list and actions preserve their differing roles.
Genesis describes the strain created by abundant possessions, and Ezra prays over the practical vulnerability of traveling households. Luke 12:15-21 challenges the identification of life with accumulated goods. The comparison concerns stewardship and misplaced security, without making the patriarchal stories direct predictions of that parable or assigning every wealthy household the same verdict.