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Inheritance Through Marriage

36 The leaders[a] of the families[b] of the clans of descendants[c] of Gilead the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the clans of the descendants[d] of Joseph came near and spoke before[e] Moses and before[f] the leaders[g] of the families[h] of the Israelites.[i] And they said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the Israelites,[j] and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But if they become wives to one of the sons from another tribe of the Israelites,[k] their inheritance will disappear from the inheritance of our ancestors,[l] and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; the lot of our inheritance would disappear. When the Jubilee of the Israelites[m] comes,[n] it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and their inheritance will disappear from the tribe of our father.”

Then Moses commanded the Israelites[o] by the command of Yahweh, saying, “The tribe of the descendants[p] of Joseph is right regarding what they are speaking. This is the word that Yahweh commanded the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry[q] whomever they like;[r] only they must marry[s] from within the clan of the tribe of their father. Thus an inheritance of the Israelites[t] will not go around from tribe to tribe. Rather, the inheritance of each tribe of his father will remain with the Israelites.[u] Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from the tribes of the Israelites[v] will marry[w] one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that the Israelites[x] will possess the inheritance of his ancestors.[y] Therefore an inheritance will not go around from one tribe to another tribe because the tribes of the Israelites[z] will each hold to their own inheritance.’”

10 Just as Yahweh commanded to Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married[aa] the sons of their uncles. 12 They married[ab] those from the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained[ac] among the tribe of the clan of their ancestors.[ad]

13 These were the commands and the stipulations that Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses[ae] to the Israelites[af] on the desert-plateaus of Moab by the Jordan across Jericho.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 36:1 Literally “The heads”
  2. Numbers 36:1 Or “fathers”
  3. Numbers 36:1 Or “sons”
  4. Numbers 36:1 Or “sons”
  5. Numbers 36:1 Literally “before the face of”
  6. Numbers 36:1 Literally “before the face of”
  7. Numbers 36:1 Literally “the heads”
  8. Numbers 36:1 Hebrew “of the fathers”
  9. Numbers 36:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  10. Numbers 36:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  11. Numbers 36:3 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  12. Numbers 36:3 Or “fathers”
  13. Numbers 36:4 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  14. Numbers 36:4 Literally “will be”
  15. Numbers 36:5 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  16. Numbers 36:5 Or “sons”
  17. Numbers 36:6 Literally “Let them be as wives”
  18. Numbers 36:6 Literally “they will be as the good in their eyes”
  19. Numbers 36:6 Literally “they must be as wives”
  20. Numbers 36:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  21. Numbers 36:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  22. Numbers 36:8 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  23. Numbers 36:8 Literally “be a wife to”
  24. Numbers 36:8 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  25. Numbers 36:8 Or “fathers”
  26. Numbers 36:9 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  27. Numbers 36:11 Literally “were as wives to”
  28. Numbers 36:12 Literally “They were as wives to”
  29. Numbers 36:12 Literally “was”
  30. Numbers 36:12 Or “fathers”
  31. Numbers 36:13 Or “through Moses”
  32. Numbers 36:13 Literally “sons/children of Israel”

Inheritance of Zelophehad’s daughters

36 The leaders of the households of the clans of Gilead, Machir’s son and Manasseh’s grandson, of Joseph’s clans, approached and spoke before Moses and the chiefs, who were the leaders of the Israelite households. They said, “The Lord commanded my master to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites. But my master was also commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. If they are married to someone from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance will be taken away from our household and given to another tribe into which they marry. Then it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. At the Israelite Jubilee, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they married. Then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the Lord’s word: “The tribe of Joseph’s descendants are correct in what they’re saying. This is the word that the Lord commands to Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry whomever seems best to them, but they may only marry into one of the clans of their ancestral tribe, so that the inheritance of the Israelites doesn’t transfer from one tribe to another. The Israelites will each retain the tribal inheritance of his ancestral tribe. Every daughter who inherits land from an Israelite tribe must marry into one of the clans of her father’s tribe. In this way each Israelite will own the land of his ancestors. An inheritance of land may not be transferred from one tribe to another, for the Israelite tribes will each retain its own inheritance.”

10 Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses. 11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, married their cousins. 12 They married into the clan of Manasseh, Joseph’s son. Their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

Conclusion

13 These are the commandments and the case laws that the Lord commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.