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Chapter 36

Inheritance of Daughters. 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. 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. But if they marry into one of the other Israelite tribes, their heritage will be withdrawn from our ancestral heritage and will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry; thus the heritage that fell to us by lot will be diminished. 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the heritage of these women will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry and their heritage will be withdrawn from that of our ancestral tribe.”

[b]So Moses commanded the Israelites at the direction of the Lord: “The tribe of the Josephites are right in what they say. 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, so that no heritage of the Israelites will pass from one tribe to another, but all the Israelites will retain their own ancestral heritage. 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. 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.

Footnotes

  1. 36:4 Before the jubilee year various circumstances, such as divorce, could make such property revert to its original tribal owners; but in the jubilee year it became irrevocably attached to its new owners.
  2. 36:5–9 This is a supplement to the law given in 27:5–11.

Land for Zelophehad’s Daughters

36 The leaders of ·Gilead’s family group [L the clan of the sons/descendants of Gilead] went to talk to Moses and the leaders of the ·families [clans] of ·Israel [L sons/T children of Israel]. (Gilead was the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.) They said, “The Lord commanded you, our ·master [lord], to give the land for inheritance to the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] by throwing lots [C perhaps the Urim and Thummim; Ex. 28:30; Lev. 8:8], and the Lord commanded you, our master [lord], to give for inheritance the land of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters [27:1–11]. But if his daughters marry ·men [L sons] from other tribes of ·Israel [L the sons/T children of Israel], then ·that land will leave our family [L their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestors/fathers], and the people of the other tribes will get that land. So ·we will lose some of our land [L part of our allotted portion will be lost]. When the time of Jubilee [C every fiftieth year; Lev. 25:8–55] comes for the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel], their land will go to the tribes of the people they marry; ·their land will be taken away from us, the land we received from our fathers [L the inheritance of the tribe of our ancestors/fathers will be deprived of inheritance].”

Then Moses gave the ·Israelites [L the sons/T children of Israel] this command from the Lord: “These men from the ·tribe [L sons; descendants] of Joseph are right. This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: You may marry anyone you wish, as long as the person is from ·your [L a clan of your] own tribe. In this way the ·Israelites’ land [L inheritance of the sons/T children of Israel] will not pass from tribe to tribe, and each ·Israelite [L son/child of Israel] will keep the land in the tribe that belonged to his ·ancestors [fathers]. A woman who inherits her father’s land may marry, but she must marry someone from ·her own [L a clan of her own] tribe. In this way every ·Israelite [L son/child of Israel] will keep the land that belonged to his ·ancestors [fathers]. The ·land [inheritance] must not pass from tribe to tribe, and each ·Israelite tribe [L tribe of the sons/T children of Israel] will keep the land it ·received [inherited] from its ·ancestors [fathers].”

10 Zelophehad’s daughters obeyed the Lord’s command to Moses.

11 So Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—married ·their cousins, their father’s relatives [L sons of their father’s brothers]. 12 Their husbands were from the ·tribe of [L clan of the sons of] Manasseh son of Joseph, so their ·land [inheritance] stayed in their father’s ·family group [clan] and tribe.

13 These were the laws and commands that the Lord gave to the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel] through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

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)