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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(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. 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. 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. 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.”

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. 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. No inheritance(I) in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors. 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. 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)

36 And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:

And they said, The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.

This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.

So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.

Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.

10 Even as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:

11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their fathers brothers' sons:

12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.