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Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
New International Version

Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters(A)

36 The family heads of the clan of Gilead(B) son of Makir,(C) the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph,(D) came and spoke before Moses and the leaders,(E) the heads of the Israelite families. 2 They said, “When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot,(F) he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad(G) to his daughters. 3 Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away. 4 When the Year of Jubilee(H) for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our ancestors.”

5 Then at the Lord’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right. 6 This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan. 7 No inheritance(I) in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors. 8 Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan,(J) so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors. 9 No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.”

10 So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah(K)—married their cousins on their father’s side. 12 They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father’s tribe and clan.(L)

13 These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses(M) to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.(N)

The Command to Leave Horeb

1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan(O)—that is, in the Arabah(P)—opposite Suph, between Paran(Q) and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb(R) to Kadesh Barnea(S) by the Mount Seir(T) road.)(U)

3 In the fortieth year,(V) on the first day of the eleventh month,(W) Moses proclaimed(X) to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon(Y) king of the Amorites,(Z) who reigned in Heshbon,(AA) and at Edrei had defeated Og(AB) king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth.(AC)

5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab,(AD) Moses began to expound this law, saying:

6 The Lord our God said to us(AE) at Horeb,(AF) “You have stayed long enough(AG) at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites;(AH) go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah,(AI) in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev(AJ) and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites(AK) and to Lebanon,(AL) as far as the great river, the Euphrates.(AM) 8 See, I have given you this land(AN).(AO) Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore(AP) he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

The Appointment of Leaders

9 At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden(AQ) for me to carry alone.(AR) 10 The Lord your God has increased(AS) your numbers(AT) so that today you are as numerous(AU) as the stars in the sky.(AV) 11 May the Lord, the God of your ancestors, increase(AW) you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised!(AX) 12 But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself?(AY) 13 Choose some wise, understanding and respected men(AZ) from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.”

14 You answered me, “What you propose to do is good.”

15 So I took(BA) the leading men of your tribes,(BB) wise and respected men,(BC) and appointed them to have authority over you—as commanders(BD) of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens and as tribal officials.(BE) 16 And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge(BF) fairly,(BG) whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.(BH) 17 Do not show partiality(BI) in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone,(BJ) for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”(BK) 18 And at that time I told you everything you were to do.(BL)

Spies Sent Out

19 Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites(BM) through all that vast and dreadful wilderness(BN) that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.(BO) 20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession(BP) of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid;(BQ) do not be discouraged.”(BR)

22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy(BS) out the land(BT) for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”

23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected(BU) twelve of you, one man from each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol(BV) and explored it. 25 Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported,(BW) “It is a good land(BX) that the Lord our God is giving us.”(BY)

Rebellion Against the Lord

26 But you were unwilling to go up;(BZ) you rebelled(CA) against the command of the Lord your God. 27 You grumbled(CB) in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller(CC) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites(CD) there.’”

29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid(CE) of them.(CF) 30 The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight(CG) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried(CH) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”(CI)

32 In spite of this,(CJ) you did not trust(CK) in the Lord your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,(CL) to search(CM) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

34 When the Lord heard(CN) what you said, he was angry(CO) and solemnly swore:(CP) 35 “No one from this evil generation shall see the good land(CQ) I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb(CR) son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly.(CS)”

37 Because of you the Lord became angry(CT) with me also and said, “You shall not enter(CU) it, either. 38 But your assistant, Joshua(CV) son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage(CW) him, because he will lead(CX) Israel to inherit(CY) it. 39 And the little ones that you said would be taken captive,(CZ) your children who do not yet know(DA) good from bad—they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. 40 But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.[a](DB)”

41 Then you replied, “We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.” So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.

42 But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”(DC)

43 So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord’s command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees(DD) and beat you down from Seir(DE) all the way to Hormah.(DF) 45 You came back and wept before the Lord,(DG) but he paid no attention(DH) to your weeping and turned a deaf ear(DI) to you. 46 And so you stayed in Kadesh(DJ) many days—all the time you spent there.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 1:40 Or the Sea of Reeds
Listen to Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
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Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
New King James Version

Marriage of Female Heirs

36 Now the chief fathers of the families of the (A)children of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and (B)spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel. 2 And they said: (C)“The Lord commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and (D)my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be (E)taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when (F)the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

5 Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying: (G)“What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them [a]marry whom they think best, (H)but they may marry only within the family of their father’s tribe.’ 7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall (I)keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And (J)every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.”

10 Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; 11 (K)for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to the sons of their father’s brothers. 12 They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses (L)in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

The Previous Command to Enter Canaan

1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel (M)on this side of the Jordan in the wilderness, in the [b]plain opposite [c]Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir (N)to Kadesh Barnea. 3 Now it came to pass (O)in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him as commandments to them, 4 (P)after he had killed Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who dwelt at Ashtaroth (Q)in[d] Edrei.

5 On this side of the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this law, saying, 6 “The Lord our God spoke to us (R)in Horeb, saying: ‘You have dwelt long (S)enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and take your journey, and go to the mountains of the Amorites, to all the neighboring places in the [e]plain, in the mountains and in the lowland, in the South and on the seacoast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates. 8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord [f]swore to your fathers—to (T)Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.’

Tribal Leaders Appointed(U)

9 “And (V)I spoke to you at that time, saying: ‘I [g]alone am not able to bear you. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you, (W)and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude. 11 (X)May the Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you (Y)as He has promised you! 12 (Z)How can I alone bear your problems and your burdens and your complaints? 13 Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them [h]heads over you.’ 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’ 15 So I took (AA)the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and [i]made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.

16 “Then I commanded your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your brethren, and (AB)judge righteously between a man and his (AC)brother or the stranger who is with him. 17 (AD)You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for (AE)the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, (AF)bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 And I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.

Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land(AG)

19 “So we departed from Horeb, (AH)and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord our God had commanded us. Then (AI)we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of your fathers has spoken to you; (AJ)do not fear or be discouraged.’

22 “And every one of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, and let them search out the land for us, and bring back word to us of the way by which we should go up, and of the cities into which we shall come.’

23 “The plan pleased me well; so (AK)I took twelve of your men, one man from each tribe. 24 (AL)And they departed and went up into the mountains, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 They also took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and they brought back word to us, saying, ‘It is a (AM)good land which the Lord our God is giving us.’

26 (AN)“Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; 27 and you (AO)complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord (AP)hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brethren have [j]discouraged our hearts, saying, (AQ)“The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fortified up to heaven; moreover we have seen the sons of the (AR)Anakim there.” ’

29 “Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, (AS)or afraid of them. 30 (AT)The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a (AU)man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet, for all that, (AV)you did not believe the Lord your God, 33 (AW)who went in the way before you (AX)to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day.

The Penalty for Israel’s Rebellion(AY)

34 “And the Lord heard the sound of your words, and was angry, (AZ)and took an oath, saying, 35 (BA)‘Surely not one of these men of this evil generation shall see that good land of which I [k]swore to give to your fathers, 36 (BB)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and his children I am giving the land on which he walked, because (BC)he [l]wholly followed the Lord.’ 37 (BD)The Lord was also angry with me for your sakes, saying, ‘Even you shall not go in there. 38 (BE)Joshua the son of Nun, (BF)who stands before you, he shall go in there. (BG)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

39 (BH)‘Moreover your little ones and your children, who (BI)you say will be victims, who today (BJ)have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. 40 (BK)But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness by the Way of the Red Sea.’

41 “Then you answered and said to me, (BL)‘We have sinned against the Lord; we will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And when everyone of you had girded on his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the mountain.

42 “And the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, (BM)“Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies.” ’ 43 So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but (BN)rebelled against the command of the Lord, and (BO)presumptuously[m] went up into the mountain. 44 And the Amorites who dwelt in that mountain came out against you and chased you (BP)as bees do, and drove you back from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.

46 (BQ)“So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you spent there.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 36:6 Lit. be wives to
  2. Deuteronomy 1:1 Heb. arabah
  3. Deuteronomy 1:1 One LXX ms., Tg., Vg. Red Sea
  4. Deuteronomy 1:4 LXX, Syr., Vg. and; cf. Josh. 12:4
  5. Deuteronomy 1:7 Heb. arabah
  6. Deuteronomy 1:8 promised
  7. Deuteronomy 1:9 am not able to bear you by myself
  8. Deuteronomy 1:13 rulers
  9. Deuteronomy 1:15 appointed
  10. Deuteronomy 1:28 Lit. melted
  11. Deuteronomy 1:35 promised
  12. Deuteronomy 1:36 fully
  13. Deuteronomy 1:43 willfully
Listen to Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
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Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
New American Standard Bible

Inheritance by Marriage

36 (A)Now the heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came forward and spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, 2 and they said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land by lot to the sons of Israel as an inheritance, and my lord (B)was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if they [a]marry one of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so it will be withdrawn from our allotted inheritance. 4 And when the (C)jubilee of the sons of Israel takes place, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

5 Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel in accordance with the [b]word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph is right in its statements. 6 (D)This is [c]what the Lord has commanded regarding the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry [d]whomever they wish; only they must marry within the family of the tribe of their father.’ 7 So (E)no inheritance of the sons of Israel will [e]be transferred from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall each [f]retain possession of the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 (F)And every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall marry one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 So no inheritance will [g]be transferred from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall each [h]retain possession of its own inheritance.”

10 Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: 11 (G)Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad married their uncles’ sons. 12 They married those from the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance [i]remained with the tribe of the family of their father.

13 (H)These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded to the sons of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Israel’s History after the Exodus

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel (I)across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the (J)Arabah opposite [j]Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from (K)Horeb by way of Mount (L)Seir to (M)Kadesh-barnea. 3 In the (N)fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, (O)in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them, 4 after he had [k](P)defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and (Q)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in (R)Ashtaroth [l]and in Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,

6 “The Lord our God (S)spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn and set out on your journey, and go to (T)the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in (U)the [m]Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord (V)swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their [n]descendants after them.’

9 “And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘(W)I am not able to endure you alone. 10 The Lord your God has (X)multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. 11 May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, (Y)just as He has [o]promised you! 12 How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? 13 (Z)Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ 14 And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and [p]appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, [q]hundreds, [r]fifties, and [s]tens, and officers for your tribes.

16 “Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and (AA)judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. 17 (AB)You are not to [t]show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are (AC)not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. (AD)The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ 18 At that time (AE)I commanded you all the things that you were to do.

19 “Then we set out from (AF)Horeb, and went through all that (AG)great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the (AH)hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to (AI)Kadesh-barnea. 20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us. 21 See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. (AJ)Do not fear or be dismayed.’

22 “(AK)Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we should enter.’ 23 The [u]plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. 24 Then (AL)they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. 25 And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’

26 “(AM)Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you (AN)rebelled against the [v]command of the Lord your God; 27 and (AO)you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw (AP)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ 29 But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them. 30 The Lord your God, who goes before you, will (AQ)Himself fight for you, [w]just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how (AR)the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’ 32 Yet [x](AS)in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, 33 (AT)who goes before you on your way, (AU)to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

34 “Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and (AV)swore an oath, saying, 35 ‘(AW)Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and (AX)to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ 37 (AY)The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘(AZ)Not even you shall enter there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, (BA)shall himself enter there; encourage him, for (BB)he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. 39 Moreover, (BC)your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have (BD)no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it. 40 But as for you, (BE)turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the [y]Red Sea.’

41 “(BF)Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42 (BG)But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be [z]defeated [aa]by your enemies.”’ 43 So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, (BH)you rebelled against the [ab]command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 (BI)And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you (BJ)as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the (BK)Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you. 46 So you remained at (BL)Kadesh for many days, [ac]the days that you spent there.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 36:3 Lit become wives to, and so throughout the ch
  2. Numbers 36:5 Lit mouth
  3. Numbers 36:6 Lit the word which
  4. Numbers 36:6 Lit the good one in their eyes
  5. Numbers 36:7 Lit turn about
  6. Numbers 36:7 Lit cling to
  7. Numbers 36:9 Lit turn about
  8. Numbers 36:9 Lit cling to
  9. Numbers 36:12 Lit was to the
  10. Deuteronomy 1:1 Perhaps the Red Sea
  11. Deuteronomy 1:4 Lit struck
  12. Deuteronomy 1:4 So ancient versions; MT omits and
  13. Deuteronomy 1:7 I.e., South country
  14. Deuteronomy 1:8 Lit seed
  15. Deuteronomy 1:11 Lit spoken to
  16. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit gave them as
  17. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  18. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  19. Deuteronomy 1:15 Lit commanders of
  20. Deuteronomy 1:17 Lit recognize faces
  21. Deuteronomy 1:23 Lit word
  22. Deuteronomy 1:26 Lit mouth
  23. Deuteronomy 1:30 Lit according to all that
  24. Deuteronomy 1:32 Lit in this matter
  25. Deuteronomy 1:40 Lit Sea of Reeds
  26. Deuteronomy 1:42 Lit struck
  27. Deuteronomy 1:42 Lit before
  28. Deuteronomy 1:43 Lit mouth
  29. Deuteronomy 1:46 Lit as the days
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Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
New Living Translation

Women Who Inherit Property

36 Then the heads of the clans of Gilead—descendants of Makir, son of Manasseh, son of Joseph—came to Moses and the family leaders of Israel with a petition. 2 They said, “Sir, the Lord instructed you to divide the land by sacred lot among the people of Israel. You were told by the Lord to give the grant of land owned by our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced. 4 Then when the Year of Jubilee comes, their portion of land will be added to that of the new tribe, causing it to be lost forever to our ancestral tribe.”

5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe. 7 None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted. 8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property. 9 No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”

10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side. 12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

13 These are the commands and regulations that the Lord gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Introduction to Moses’ First Address

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley[a] near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.

2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai[b] to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. 3 But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month,[c] Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the Lord had commanded him to say. 4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.

5 While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the Lord’s instructions as follows.

The Command to Leave Sinai

6 “When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. 7 It is time to break camp and move on. Go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the neighboring regions—the Jordan Valley, the hill country, the western foothills,[d] the Negev, and the coastal plain. Go to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, and all the way to the great Euphrates River. 8 Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.’”

Moses Appoints Leaders from Each Tribe

9 Moses continued, “At that time I told you, ‘You are too great a burden for me to carry all by myself. 10 The Lord your God has increased your population, making you as numerous as the stars! 11 And may the Lord, the God of your ancestors, multiply you a thousand times more and bless you as he promised! 12 But you are such a heavy load to carry! How can I deal with all your problems and bickering? 13 Choose some well-respected men from each tribe who are known for their wisdom and understanding, and I will appoint them as your leaders.’

14 “Then you responded, ‘Your plan is a good one.’ 15 So I took the wise and respected men you had selected from your tribes and appointed them to serve as judges and officials over you. Some were responsible for a thousand people, some for a hundred, some for fifty, and some for ten.

16 “At that time I instructed the judges, ‘You must hear the cases of your fellow Israelites and the foreigners living among you. Be perfectly fair in your decisions 17 and impartial in your judgments. Hear the cases of those who are poor as well as those who are rich. Don’t be afraid of anyone’s anger, for the decision you make is God’s decision. Bring me any cases that are too difficult for you, and I will handle them.’

18 “At that time I gave you instructions about everything you were to do.

Scouts Explore the Land

19 “Then, just as the Lord our God commanded us, we left Mount Sinai and traveled through the great and terrifying wilderness, as you yourselves remember, and headed toward the hill country of the Amorites. When we arrived at Kadesh-barnea, 20 I said to you, ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’

22 “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’

23 “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. 24 They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. 25 They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’

Israel’s Rebellion against the Lord

26 “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in. 27 You complained in your tents and said, ‘The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there—the descendants of Anak!”’

29 “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. 31 And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’

32 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

34 “When the Lord heard your complaining, he became very angry. So he solemnly swore, 35 ‘Not one of you from this wicked generation will live to see the good land I swore to give your ancestors, 36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see this land because he has followed the Lord completely. I will give to him and his descendants some of the very land he explored during his scouting mission.’

37 “And the Lord was also angry with me because of you. He said to me, ‘Moses, not even you will enter the Promised Land! 38 Instead, your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will lead the people into the land. Encourage him, for he will lead Israel as they take possession of it. 39 I will give the land to your little ones—your innocent children. You were afraid they would be captured, but they will be the ones who occupy it. 40 As for you, turn around now and go on back through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.[e]’

41 “Then you confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord! We will go into the land and fight for it, as the Lord our God has commanded us.’ So your men strapped on their weapons, thinking it would be easy to attack the hill country.

42 “But the Lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’

43 “This is what I told you, but you would not listen. Instead, you again rebelled against the Lord’s command and arrogantly went into the hill country to fight. 44 But the Amorites who lived there came out against you like a swarm of bees. They chased and battered you all the way from Seir to Hormah. 45 Then you returned and wept before the Lord, but he refused to listen. 46 So you stayed there at Kadesh for a long time.

Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Hebrew the Arabah; also in 1:7.
  2. 1:2 Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai; also in 1:6, 19.
  3. 1:3 Hebrew In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month. This day in the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in January or February.
  4. 1:7 Hebrew the Shephelah.
  5. 1:40 Hebrew sea of reeds.
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Numbers 36 - Deuteronomy 1
The Message

The Daughters of Zelophehad

36 The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh—they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph—approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.

2-4 They said, “When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married. And then when the year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married—their land will be removed from our ancestors’ inheritance!”

5-9 Moses, at God’s command, issued this order to the People of Israel: “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right. This is God’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: They are free to marry anyone they choose as long as they marry within their ancestral clan. The inheritance-land of the People of Israel must not get passed around from tribe to tribe. No, keep the tribal inheritance-land in the family. Every daughter who inherits land, regardless of the tribe she is in, must marry a man from within her father’s tribal clan. Every Israelite is responsible for making sure the inheritance stays within the ancestral tribe. No inheritance-land may be passed from tribe to tribe; each tribe of the People of Israel must hold tight to its own land.”

10-12 Zelophehad’s daughters did just as God commanded Moses. Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, all married their cousins on their father’s side. They married within the families of Manasseh son of Joseph and their inheritance-lands stayed in their father’s family.

13 These are the commands and regulations that God commanded through the authority of Moses to the People of Israel on the Plains of Moab at Jordan-Jericho.

1 1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.

* * *

3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.

Moses Preaches to Israel on the Plains of Moab

5 He said:

6-8 Back at Horeb, God, our God, spoke to us: “You’ve stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates. Look, I’ve given you this land. Now go in and take it. It’s the land God promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them.”

9-13 At the time I told you, “I can’t do this, can’t carry you all by myself. God, your God, has multiplied your numbers. Why, look at you—you rival the stars in the sky! And may God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, keep it up and multiply you another thousand times, bless you just as he promised. But how can I carry, all by myself, your troubles and burdens and quarrels? So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders.”

14 You answered me, “Good! A good solution.”

15 So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes.

16-17 At the same time I gave orders to your judges: “Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner. Don’t play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don’t be impressed by big names. This is God’s judgment you’re dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I’ll deal with them.”

18 I issued orders to you at that time regarding everything you would have to deal with.

19-21 Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you’ve had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God, our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea. There I told you, “You’ve made it to the Amorite hill country that God, our God, is giving us. Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don’t be afraid. Don’t lose heart.”

22 But then you all came to me and said, “Let’s send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find.”

23-25 That seemed like a good idea to me, so I picked twelve men, one from each tribe. They set out, climbing through the hills. They came to the Eshcol Valley and looked it over. They took samples of the produce of the land and brought them back to us, saying, “It’s a good land that God, our God, is giving us!”

26-28 But then you weren’t willing to go up. You rebelled against God, your God’s plain word. You complained in your tents: “God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Amorites—a death sentence for sure! How can we go up? We’re trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails, telling us, ‘The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!’”

29-33 I tried to relieve your fears: “Don’t be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he’s fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you’re here, you won’t trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go.”

34-36 When God heard what you said, he exploded in anger. He swore, “Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He’ll see it. I’ll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul.”

37-40 But I also got it. Because of you God’s anger spilled over onto me. He said, “You aren’t getting in either. Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in. Build up his courage. He’s the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel. And your babies of whom you said, ‘They’ll be grabbed for plunder,’ and all these little kids who right now don’t even know right from wrong—they’ll get in. I’ll give it to them. Yes, they’ll be the new owners. But not you. Turn around and head back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea.”

41 You spoke up, “We’ve sinned against God. We’ll go up and fight, following all the orders that God, our God, has commanded.” You took your weapons and dressed for battle—you thought it would be so easy going into those hills!

42 But God told me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t do it; don’t go up to fight—I’m not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you.’”

43-46 I told you but you wouldn’t listen. You rebelled at the plain word of God. You threw out your chests and strutted into the hills. And those Amorites, who had lived in those hills all their lives, swarmed all over you like a hive of bees, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah, a stinging defeat. You came back and wept in the presence of God, but he didn’t pay a bit of attention to you; God didn’t give you the time of day. You stayed there in Kadesh a long time, about as long as you had stayed there earlier.

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