Numbers 36

1 The heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the princes, the heads of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel.

Then the leaders of the families of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the stock of the sons of Joseph, approached and spoke to Moses before the leaders of Israel, and they said:

2 They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel. My lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

“The Lord has instructed you, our ruler, so that you would divide the land by lot to the sons of Israel, and so that you would give to the daughters of Zelophehad, our brother, the possession owed to their father.

3 If they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.

But if men of another tribe receive them as wives, their possession will follow them, and having been transferred to another tribe, there will be a reduction in our inheritance.

4 When the jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

And so it may be that, when the Jubilee of remission, that is, the fiftieth year, has arrived, the distribution by lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall be transferred to others.”

5 Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the LORD’s word, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speak what is right.

Moses answered the sons of Israel, and, at the instruction of the Lord, he said: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph has spoken correctly.

6 This is the thing which the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them be married to whom they think best, only they shall marry into the family of the tribe of their father.

And so, this is the law which has been promulgated by the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry whomever they may wish, but only among the men of their own tribe,

7 So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel move from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall all keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

lest the possession of the sons of Israel become commingled, from tribe to tribe. For all men shall take wives from their own tribe and kinship;

8 Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may each possess the inheritance of his fathers.

and all women shall take husbands from their same tribe, so that the inheritance may remain within the families,

9 So shall no inheritance move from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall each keep his own inheritance.’”

and so that the tribes may not be mingled together, but may remain such as they were separated by the Lord.”

10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses:

And the daughters of Zelophehad acted according to what was ordered.

11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father’s brothers’ sons.

And Mahlah, and Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noa were wed to the sons of their paternal uncle,

12 They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph. Their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

from the family of Manasseh, who was a son of Joseph. And the possession which had been distributed to them remained in the tribe and family of their father.

13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which the LORD commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

These are the commandments and judgments which the Lord ordered by the hand of Moses to the sons of Israel, in the plains of Moab, above the Jordan, opposite Jericho.