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Numbers 36

1The heads of the ancestral houses of the clan of the sons of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the sons of Joseph, came forward. They spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the ancestral houses of the sons of Israel.

2They said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land to the sons of Israel as an inheritance by lot. My lord was also commanded by Yahweh to give our brother Zelophehad’s inheritance to his daughters.

3If they become wives of men from one of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be taken away from our fathers’ inheritance and added to the inheritance of the tribe they marry into. It will be taken away from our allotted inheritance.

4When the Jubilee comes for the sons of Israel, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe they marry into, and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers’ tribe.”

5At Yahweh’s command Moses instructed the sons of Israel: “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right.

6This is what Yahweh commands concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: Let them become wives of whomever seems good to them, but they must marry within the clan of their father’s tribe.

7An inheritance among the sons of Israel must not pass from one tribe to another. The sons of Israel must each hold fast to the inheritance of their ancestral tribe.

8Every daughter who inherits property among the tribes of the sons of Israel must become the wife of a man from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that the sons of Israel may each inherit the property of their fathers.

9An inheritance must not pass from one tribe to another tribe. The tribes of the sons of Israel must each hold fast to their own inheritance.”

10Zelophehad’s daughters did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, became wives of their uncles’ sons.

12They married within the clans of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph. Their inheritance remained with the tribe of their father’s clan.

13These are the commandments and ordinances Yahweh commanded the sons of Israel through Moses on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Translation notes 2

36:1–9 — Inheritance and marriage. The decision supplements the daughters’ inheritance ruling in chapter 27. They may choose a husband, but within the stated clan and tribe, to preserve the tribal allotment. The Jubilee does not erase the leaders’ concern about permanent transfer. The restrictions are preserved without converting them into a general statement that women cannot inherit.

36:10–13 — The five daughters. All five daughters are named again. The Hebrew order here differs from chapter 27, and that difference remains. Their uncles’ sons are their male cousins; the wording identifies a specific marriage relationship, not merely relatives in general. The book ends by locating these commands on the plains of Moab.