1The heads of the families of Gilead came to Moses. Gilead was the son of Makir. The family heads were from the tribe of Manasseh. So they were in the family line of Joseph. They spoke to Moses in front of the leaders of the families of Israel.2They said, ‘The LORD commanded you to give shares of the land to the Israelites. He told you to cast lots when you do it. At that time the LORD ordered you to give our brother Zelophehad’s share to his daughters.3Suppose they marry men from other tribes in Israel. Then their share will be taken away from our family’s land. It will be added to the land of the tribe they marry into. So a part of the share given to us will be taken away.4The Year of Jubilee for the Israelites will come. Then their share will be added to the land of the tribe they marry into. Their land will be taken away from the share given to our tribe.’5Then the LORD gave a command to Moses. He told Moses to give an order to the Israelites. Moses said, ‘What the tribe in the family line of Joseph is saying is right.6Here is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters. They can marry anyone they want to. But they have to marry someone in their own family’s tribe.7Property in Israel must not pass from one tribe to another. Everyone in Israel must keep their family’s share of their tribe’s land.8Suppose a daughter in any tribe of Israel receives land from her parents. Then she must marry someone in her father’s family and tribe. In that way, every family’s share will remain in its family line in Israel.9Property can’t pass from one tribe to another. Each tribe of Israel must keep the land it receives.’10So Zelophehad’s daughters did just as the LORD commanded Moses.11The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah. All of them married their cousins on their father’s side.12They married men in the family line of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. So the land they received remained in their father’s family and tribe.13These are the commands and rules the LORD gave through Moses. He gave them to the Israelites on the plains of Moab. They were by the River Jordan opposite Jericho.
Numbers 36
English Standard Version
Marriage of Female Heirs
1The heads of the fathers’ houses of the clan of the people of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the chiefs, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. (Nu 26:29)2They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. (Nu 26:55; Nu 27:1; Nu 27:7; Nu 33:54; Jos 17:3)3But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.4And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.” (Le 25:10)5And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right. (Nu 27:7)6This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. (Nu 36:12)7The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. (1Ki 21:3)8And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers. (1Ch 23:22)9So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.’”10The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses,11for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers. (Nu 27:1; Jos 17:3)12They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.13These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. (Nu 22:1)