Zelophehad’s Family: ² We appreciate and accept that the Eternal One told Moses, my lord, that among the land given by lot to the Israelites, whatever would have gone to Zelophehad (our kinsman) as an inheritance should be passed down to his daughters. ³ The trouble is, if they marry outside of our tribe into another Israelite tribe, their land will go with them. That will reduce the territory designated to our family and increase the other tribe’s inheritance. ⁴ And in the great 50th year, the Sabbath of Sabbath years called the Jubilee of the Israelites, whatever land used to be ours through their connection to our family will certainly revert to whichever tribe they married into.^[a] In other words, their inheritance will be forever taken away from the territory that belongs to our extended family.

Moses (to all the Israelites): ⁵ The Eternal has said that these descendants of Joseph are right. ^6-9 In light of it, He has determined that Zelophehad’s daughters should marry whomever they think is best, but they should do so within the clan of their extended family so that their land stays in the family. The same goes for any future Israelite daughters in a similar situation. Let them marry whomever they will, but only within the clan of their father’s extended family. There shouldn’t be any permanent transfer of land from one tribe to another because the territories should be fixed as each tribe’s inheritance for all time.