Add parallel Print Page Options

Further Ruling About Daughters’ Inheritance

36 The heads of the ancestral family of the children of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, from the sons of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and before the princes of the chiefs of the fathers of Bnei-Yisrael. They said, “My lord, Adonai commanded to give the land by lot as an inheritance to Bnei-Yisrael. My lord was also commanded by Adonai to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

“If they become wives of men from other tribes of Israel, their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it will be deducted from the allotment of our inheritance. When the Jubilee year comes, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry and deducted from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

Then Moses commanded Bnei-Yisrael at the mouth of Adonai, “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is correct. This is the word that Adonai commands for the daughters of Zelophehad saying: They may become wives to whomever they please, as long as they marry within the family of the tribe of their father. So no inheritance may be passed from tribe to tribe among Bnei-Yisrael—each one of Bnei-Yisrael will each keep the inheritance of the tribe of his ancestors. Every daughter receiving an inheritance in one of the tribes of Bnei-Yisrael should marry within the family of her father’s tribe, so that Bnei-Yisrael will each possess the inheritance of his fathers. No inheritance may pass from tribe to another tribe, for each tribe of Bnei-Yisrael is to keep its inheritance.”

10 So Zelophehad’s daughters did just as Adonai commanded Moses. 11 Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah—married sons of their uncles. 12 They married within the families of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their ancestral family.

13 These are the mitzvot and judgments that Adonai gave by Moses’s hand to Bnei-Yisrael, on the plains of Moab at Jericho along the Jordan.

Marriage of Female Heirs

36 The heads of the fathers' houses of the clan of the (A)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. They said, (B)“The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and (C)my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. But 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. And when (D)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.”

And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph (E)is right. This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best, (F)only they shall marry within the clan of the tribe of their father. The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to another, for every one of the people of Israel (G)shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And (H)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. So 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.’”

10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded Moses, 11 (I)for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father's brothers. 12 They 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.

13 These are the commandments and the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the people of Israel (J)in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.