Chapter 36

Inheritance of Daughters. ¹ The heads of the ancestral houses in a clan of the descendants of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh—one of the Josephite clans—came up and spoke before Moses and Eleazar the priest and before the leaders who were the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelites. ² They said: “The Lord commanded my lord to apportion the land by lot for a heritage among the Israelites;^(A) and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the heritage of Zelophehad our kinsman to his daughters. ³ But if they marry into one of the other Israelite tribes, their heritage will be withdrawn from our ancestral heritage and will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry; thus the heritage that fell to us by lot will be diminished. ⁴ When the Israelites celebrate the jubilee year,^[a] the heritage of these women will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry and their heritage will be withdrawn from that of our ancestral tribe.”

^5 [b]So Moses commanded the Israelites at the direction of the Lord: “The tribe of the Josephites are right in what they say. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands with regard to the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they please, provided they marry into a clan of their ancestral tribe, ⁷ so that no heritage of the Israelites will pass from one tribe to another, but all the Israelites will retain their own ancestral heritage. ⁸ Every daughter who inherits property in any of the Israelite tribes will marry someone belonging to a clan of her own ancestral tribe, in order that all the Israelites may remain in possession of their own ancestral heritage. ⁹ Thus, no heritage will pass from one tribe to another, but all the Israelite tribes will retain their own ancestral heritage.”

¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did exactly as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, married sons of their uncles on their father’s side. ¹² They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph; hence their heritage remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

Conclusion. ¹³ These are the commandments and decisions which the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses, on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Psalm 87^[a]

Zion the True Birthplace

^1 (A)A psalm of the Korahites. A song.

I

II

Paul’s Plans. ²¹ When this was concluded, Paul made up his mind to travel through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must visit Rome also.”^{(A) 22} Then he sent to Macedonia two of his assistants, Timothy and Erastus, while he himself stayed for a while in the province of Asia.

The Riot of the Silversmiths. ²³ About that time a serious disturbance broke out concerning the Way. ²⁴ There was a silversmith named Demetrius who made miniature silver shrines of Artemis^[a] and provided no little work for the craftsmen. ²⁵ He called a meeting of these and other workers in related crafts and said, “Men, you know well that our prosperity derives from this work. ²⁶ As you can now see and hear, not only in Ephesus but throughout most of the province of Asia this Paul has persuaded and misled a great number of people by saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all.^{(B) 27} The danger grows, not only that our business will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be of no account, and that she whom the whole province of Asia and all the world worship will be stripped of her magnificence.”

²⁸ When they heard this, they were filled with fury and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ The city was filled with confusion, and the people rushed with one accord into the theater, seizing Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonians, Paul’s traveling companions.^{(C) 30} Paul wanted to go before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him, ³¹ and even some of the Asiarchs^[b] who were friends of his sent word to him advising him not to venture into the theater. ³² Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, others something else; the assembly was in chaos, and most of the people had no idea why they had come together. ³³ Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, as the Jews pushed him forward, and Alexander signaled with his hand that he wished to explain something to the gathering. ³⁴ But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵ Finally the town clerk restrained the crowd and said, “You Ephesians, what person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the guardian of the temple^[c] of the great Artemis and of her image that fell from the sky? ³⁶ Since these things are undeniable, you must calm yourselves and not do anything rash. ³⁷ The men you brought here are not temple robbers, nor have they insulted our goddess. ³⁸ If Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a complaint against anyone, courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹ If you have anything further to investigate, let the matter be settled in the lawful assembly, ⁴⁰ for, as it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of today’s conduct. There is no cause for it. We shall [not]^[d] be able to give a reason for this demonstration.” With these words he dismissed the assembly.