Numbers 36

Revised Geneva Translation

36 Then, the chief fathers of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came, and spoke before Moses, and before the Princes (the chief fathers of the children of Israel),

² and said, “The LORD Commanded my lord to give the land to inherit by lot to the children of Israel. And my lord was Commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

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

⁴ “Also, when the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance shall be put into the inheritance of the tribe into which they shall be married. So, their inheritance shall be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

⁵ Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the Word of the LORD, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph have said well.

⁶ “This is the thing that the LORD has Commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘They shall be wives to whom they think best. Only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.’

⁷ “So, the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not move from tribe to tribe. For every one of the children of Israel shall join himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

⁸ “And every daughter who possesses any inheritance of the tribes of the children of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that each of the children of Israel may enjoy the inheritance of their fathers.

⁹ “Nor shall the inheritance go about from tribe to tribe, but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall stick to his own inheritance.”

¹⁰ As the LORD Commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad.

¹¹ For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah (the daughters of Zelophehad) were married to their father’s brother’s sons.

¹² They were wives of the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. So, their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

¹³ These are the Commandments and Laws which the LORD commanded, by the hand of Moses, to the children of Israel, on the plain of Moab, by Jordan, toward Jericho.