Numbers 27
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 27
Zelophehad’s Daughters. 1 The daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, came forward. (Zelophehad belonged to the clans of Manasseh, son of Joseph.) The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.(A) 2 Standing before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the princes, and the whole community at the entrance of the tent of meeting, they said: 3 “Our father died in the wilderness. Although he did not join the faction of those who conspired against the Lord,[a] Korah’s faction, he died for his own sin without leaving any sons. 4 But why should our father’s name be cut off from his clan merely because he had no son? Give us land among our father’s kindred.”
Laws Concerning Heiresses.[b] 5 So Moses laid their case before the Lord, 6 and the Lord said to him: 7 The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just; you shall give them hereditary land among their father’s kindred and transfer their father’s heritage to them. 8 Tell the Israelites: If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his heritage to his daughter; 9 if he has no daughter, you shall give his heritage to his brothers; 10 if he has no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his father’s brothers; 11 if his father had no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his nearest relative in his clan, who shall then take possession of it.
This will be the statutory procedure for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.(B)
Joshua to Succeed Moses. 12 The Lord said to Moses: Go up into this mountain of the Abarim range[c] and view the land that I have given to the Israelites.(C) 13 When you have viewed it, you will be gathered to your people, as was Aaron your brother.(D) 14 For in the rebellion of the community in the wilderness of Zin you both rebelled against my order to acknowledge my holiness before them by means of the water.(E) (These were the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)
15 Then Moses said to the Lord, 16 “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humanity,[d] set over the community someone 17 who will be their leader in battle and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the Lord’s community may not be like sheep without a shepherd.” 18 And the Lord replied to Moses: Take Joshua, son of Nun,(F) a man of spirit,[e] and lay your hand upon him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. 20 Invest him with some of your own power, that the whole Israelite community may obey him. 21 He shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who will seek for him the decision of the Urim[f] in the Lord’s presence; and as it directs, Joshua, all the Israelites with him, and the whole community will go out for battle; and as it directs, they will come in.
22 Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. Taking Joshua and having him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, 23 he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord had directed through Moses.
Footnotes
- 27:3 He did not join…against the Lord: had he done so, he and his heirs could have been deprived of a portion in the promised land.
- 27:5–11 The purpose of this law, as also that of the related laws in 36:2–10 (marriage within the same tribe), Dt 25:5–10 (levirate marriage), and Lv 25:10 (return of property in the jubilee year), was to keep the landed property within the proper domain of each tribe.
- 27:12 The Abarim range: the mountains on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. The peak of this chain is Mount Nebo where Moses views the promised land before he dies (Dt 32:49).
- 27:16 The God of the spirits of all humanity: the sense is that God knows the character and abilities of all people and therefore knows best whom to appoint (cf. Jgs 6:34; 11:29; 1 Sm 16:13); see the same phrase in Nm 16:22, where “spirit” evidently means the life principle.
- 27:18 A man of spirit: lit., “a man in whom there is spirit,” that is, probably one who is endowed with a courageous spirit (Jos 2:11); compare Gn 41:38; Dt 34:9.
- 27:21 The Urim: certain sacred objects which Israelite priests employed to discern the divine will, probably by obtaining a positive or negative answer to a given question. The full expression was “the Urim and Thummim”; cf. Ex 28:30; Lv 8:8; Dt 33:8; Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65. Joshua ordinarily did not receive direct revelations from God as Moses had received them.
Numbers 27
Wycliffe Bible
27 Soothly the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, that was the son of Joseph, nighed (came near); of which daughters these be the names; Mahlah, and Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
2 And they stood before Moses, and Eleazar, the priest, and before all the princes of the people, at the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace; and said, (And they stood before Moses, and Eleazar, the priest, and before all the leaders of the people, at the entrance to the Tabernacle of the Covenant; and they said,)
3 Our father was dead in the desert, neither he was in the rebelty that was raised against the Lord under Korah, but he was dead in his sin; he had no male sons [he had not male children]. (Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the rebellion that was raised against the Lord under Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons.)
4 Why is his name taken away from his family, for he hath no son? Give ye possession to us among our father’s kinsmen. (But why should his name be done away from his family, simply because he hath no son? Give ye to us a possession, that is, some property, among our father’s kinsmen.)
5 And Moses told their cause to the doom of the Lord; (And Moses brought their case to the judgement of the Lord;)
6 the which said to Moses, (and the Lord said to Moses,)
7 The daughters of Zelophehad ask a just thing; give thou possession to them among their father’s kinsmen, and be they successors to him into heritage. (The daughters of Zelophehad ask for a just thing; give thou them some property among their father’s kinsmen, and let them be the successors of his inheritance.)
8 Forsooth thou shalt speak these things to the sons of Israel, When a man is dead without son, the heritage shall go to his daughter; (And thou shalt speak these words to the Israelites, When a man is dead without a son, the inheritance shall go to his daughter;)
9 if he hath no daughter, he shall have (as) his heirs his brethren; (if he hath no daughter, his brothers shall be his heirs;)
10 that and if brethren be not, ye shall give the heritage to the brethren of his father; (and if he hath no brothers, ye shall give the inheritance to his father’s brothers;)
11 soothly if he have no brethren of his father, the heritage shall be given to them that be next to him. And this shall be holy by everlasting law to the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded to Moses. (and if his father hath no brothers, the inheritance shall be given to them who be next to him. And this shall be holy by an everlasting law to the Israelites, as the Lord commanded to Moses.)
12 Also the Lord said to Moses, Go (thou) up into this hill of Abarim, and behold thou from thence the land, which I shall give to the sons of Israel. (And then the Lord said to Moses, Go thou up onto this Mount Abarim, and from there behold thou the land, which I have given to the Israelites.)
13 And when thou hast seen it, also thou shalt go to thy people, as thy brother Aaron went; (And when thou hast seen it, then thou also shalt go to thy people, that is, thou shalt die, like thy brother Aaron did;)
14 for thou offendedest me in the desert of Zin, in the against-saying of the multitude, neither thou wouldest hallow me before the people, upon the waters. These be the waters of against-saying in Kadesh, in the desert of Zin. (for thou offendedest me in the wilderness of Zin, when the people spoke against me, and thou didest not uphold my holiness before the people, there at the waters. These be the waters of Meribah at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.)
15 To whom Moses answered,
16 The Lord God of the spirits of all flesh, purvey a man, that he be on this multitude, (May the Lord God of the spirits of all people purvey a man who shall be over these people,)
17 and that may go out (and who can go out), and enter in before them, and lead them out, and lead them in, lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without (a) shepherd.
18 And the Lord said to Moses, Take thou Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom the spirit of God is (a man in whom is the spirit of God), and put thine hand upon him;
19 and he shall stand before Eleazar, the priest, and before all the multitude. And thou shalt give to him behests, in the sight of all men (And thou shalt give him his orders, or his commission, in the sight of all the people),
20 and a part of thy glory, that all the synagogue of the sons of Israel hear him. (and some of thy authority, so that all the congregation of the Israelites shall listen to him, and shall follow him.)
21 If anything shall be worthy to be done for this man, Joshua, Eleazar, the priest, shall counsel the Lord; he shall go out, and shall go in, at the word of Eleazar; he, and all the sons of Israel with him, and the tother multitude. (And if anything shall be worthy to be done for this man, Joshua, Eleazar, the priest, shall ask counsel from the Urim and the Thummim, before the Lord; he shall go out, and shall go in, at the word of Eleazar; he, and all the multitude of the Israelites.)
22 Moses did as the Lord commanded, and when he had taken Joshua, he set him before Eleazar, the priest; and before all the multitude of the people;
23 and when he had put his hands upon his head, he rehearsed all things that the Lord commanded. (and when he had laid his hands upon his head, he repeated all the things that the Lord had commanded.)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
2001 by Terence P. Noble