Numbers 36

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition

36 And the princes of the families of Galaad, the son of Machir, the son of Manasses, of the stock Of the children of Joseph, came and spoke to Moses before the princes of Israel, and said:

² The Lord hath commanded thee, my lord, that thou shouldst divide the land by lot to the children of Israel, and that thou shouldst give to the daughters of Salphaad our brother the possession due to their father:

³ Now if men of another tribe take them to wives, their possession will follow them, and being transferred to another tribe, will be a diminishing of our inheritance.

⁴ And so it shall come to pass, that when the jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year of remission, is come, the distribution made by the lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall pass to the others.

⁵ Moses answered the children of Israel, and said by the command of the Lord: The tribe of the children of Joseph hath spoken rightly.

⁶ And this is the law promulgated by the Lord touching the daughters of Salphaad: Let them marry to whom they will, only so that it be to men of their own tribe.

⁷ Lest the possession of the children of Israel be mingled from tribe to tribe. For all men shall marry wives of their own tribe and kindred:

⁸ And all women shall take husbands of the same tribe: that the inheritance may remain in the families,

⁹ And that the tribes be not mingled one with another, but remain so

¹⁰ As they were separated by the Lord. And the daughters of Salphaad did as was commanded:

¹¹ And Maala, and Thersa, and Hegla, and Melcha, and Noa were married to the sons of their uncle by their father

¹² Of the family of Manasses, who was the son of Joseph: and the possession that had been allotted to them, remained in the tribe and family of their father.

¹³ These are the commandments and judgments, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses to the children of Israel, in the plains of Moab upon the Jordan over against Jericho.