to divide
cha.laq denotes assigning or distributing portions, including land, goods, spoil, and separated groups.
The verb most often concerns assigning portions, especially the division of land for tribes or inheritance; it also describes distributing goods or spoil, splitting people or objects into parts, and apportioning outcomes or possessions.
Senses in use
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Assigning land or an inheritance by portions · dominant
In Numbers 26:53, Numbers 26:55, and Numbers 26:56, the land is to be divided for inheritance, with the APB rendering the allocation in relation to names, tribes, and lot. Joshua 18:5 describes seven portions marked between Judah and the house of Joseph, while Joshua 18:10 renders Joshua's action as dividing the land according to their divisions.
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Distributing shares, provisions, or spoil · common
In 2 Samuel 6:19 and 1 Chronicles 16:3, the Piel forms occur where bread, raisins, and meat are given to the people; the APB renders the action as distributing. Exodus 15:9, Genesis 49:27, and Joshua 22:8 place the verb with spoil, and 1 Samuel 30:24 specifies that those in battle and those staying with supplies are to receive alike.
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Splitting people, forces, or things into parts · occasional
Genesis 14:15 uses a Niphal form when forces are divided for a night attack, and 1 Kings 16:21 describes Israel as divided into two parts in support of rival kings. Genesis 49:7 speaks of dividing people in Jacob and scattering them in Israel; Ezekiel 5:1 uses the Piel form for dividing hair after it is weighed.
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Apportioning a possession, condition, or outcome · occasional
Deuteronomy 4:19 places the completed action in the allotment of the heavenly host to peoples, and Job 39:17 says that understanding was not apportioned. Job 21:17 refers to pains apportioned in anger, while Daniel 11:39 and Micah 2:4 concern land or fields apportioned in a stated circumstance.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously renders the clauses with "divided," "distributed," "allotted," and "apportioned," especially for land, provisions, and spoil. These renderings confirm the clauses' allocation or separation without assigning every English wording directly to the Hebrew term.