Numbers 36

Land for Zelophehad’s Daughters

1 The leaders of Gilead’s family group went to talk to Moses and the leaders of the families of Israel. (Gilead was the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.)2 They said, “The Lord commanded you, our master, to give the land to the Israelites by throwing lots, and the Lord commanded you to give the land of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.3 But if his daughters marry men from other tribes of Israel, then that land will leave our family, and the people of the other tribes will get that land. So we will lose some of our land.

4 When the time of Jubilee comes for the Israelites, 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.”
5 Then Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “These men from the tribe of Joseph are right.6 This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: You may marry anyone you wish, as long as the person is from your own tribe.7 In this way the Israelites’ land will not pass from tribe to tribe, and each Israelite will keep the land in the tribe that belonged to his ancestors.8 A woman who inherits her father’s land may marry, but she must marry someone from her own tribe. In this way every Israelite will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors.

9 The land must not pass from tribe to tribe, and each Israelite tribe will keep the land it received from its ancestors.”

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.

12 Their husbands were from the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, so their land stayed in their father’s family group and tribe.
13 These were the laws and commands that the Lord gave to the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

Numbers 36

Women and Land Inheritance

1 Then the heads of the family groupst of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Mosest and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families.t2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to givet 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 ment 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.t 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,t 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.”t

Moses’ Decision

5 Then Moses gave a rulingt to the Israelites by the wordt of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right.6 This is whatt the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marryt whomever they think best,t only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe.7 In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferredt 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 Israelitet 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.t

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 authorityt of Moses, on the plains of Moab by the Jordan Rivert opposite Jericho.s