Numbers 36
New English Translation
Women and Land Inheritance
36 Then the heads of the family groups[a] of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses[b] and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families.[c] 2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give[d] the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 Now if they should be married to one of the men[e] from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry.[f] As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place,[g] 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 our ancestral tribe.”[h]
Moses’ Decision
5 Then Moses gave a ruling[i] to the Israelites by the word[j] of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 6 This is what[k] the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry[l] whomever they think best,[m] only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe. 7 In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred[n] from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage. 8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite[o] may retain the inheritance of his fathers. 9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.’”
10 As the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did. 11 For the daughters of Zelophehad—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—were married to the sons of their uncles.[p] 12 They were married into the families of the Manassehites, the descendants of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.
13 These are the commandments and the decisions that the Lord commanded the Israelites through the authority[q] of Moses, in the rift valley plains[r] by Moab along the Jordan River[s] opposite Jericho.
Footnotes
- Numbers 36:1 tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”
- Numbers 36:1 tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”
- Numbers 36:1 tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”
- Numbers 36:2 tn The infinitive construct “to give” serves here as the complement or object of the verb, answering what the Lord had commanded Moses.
- Numbers 36:3 tn “Men” is understood; it says “to one from the sons of the tribes of the Israelites for a wife,” or if he has her for a wife.
- Numbers 36:3 tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.
- Numbers 36:4 tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.
- Numbers 36:4 tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”
- Numbers 36:5 tn Heb “commanded.”
- Numbers 36:5 tn Heb “mouth.”
- Numbers 36:6 tn Heb “the word that.”
- Numbers 36:6 tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”
- Numbers 36:6 tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”
- Numbers 36:7 tn Heb “turned aside.”
- Numbers 36:8 tn The subject is “Israelites” and the verb is plural to agree with it, but the idea is collective as the word for “man” indicates: “so that the Israelites may possess—[each] man the inheritance of his fathers.”
- Numbers 36:11 tn They married in the family as they were instructed. But the meaning of דּוֹד (dod) is not necessarily restricted to “uncle.”
- Numbers 36:13 tn Heb “by the hand.”
- Numbers 36:13 sn This is the area of the rift valley basin to the north of the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan. See the note at Num 21:1.
- Numbers 36:13 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
Numbers 36
Common English Bible
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. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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.”
5 Then Moses commanded the Israelites according to the Lord’s word: “The tribe of Joseph’s descendants are correct in what they’re saying. 6 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, 7 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. 8 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. 9 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.
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