36 6 An order for the marriage of the daughters of Zelophehad.
1 Then [a]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 spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel,
2 And said, (A)The Lord commanded [b]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 unto his daughters.
3 If they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereof they shall be: so shall it be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.
4 Also when the [c]Jubilee of the children of Israel cometh, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereof they shall be: so shall their inheritance 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 [d]well.
6 This is the thing that the Lord hath 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 shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove 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 that possesseth any [e]inheritance of the tribes of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father: that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of their fathers.
9 Neither 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 (B)Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah the daughters of Zelophehad were married unto their father’s brother’s sons,
12 They were wives to certain 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 [f]commandments and laws which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, unto the children of Israel in the plain of Moab, by Jordan toward Jericho.
Footnotes
- Numbers 36:1 It seemeth that the tribes contended who might marry these daughters to have their inheritance: and therefore the sons of Joseph proposed the matter to Moses.
- Numbers 36:2 Meaning, Moses.
- Numbers 36:4 Signifying that at no time it could return, for in the Jubilee all things returned to their own tribes.
- Numbers 36:5 For the tribe could not have continued, if the inheritance which was the maintenance thereof should have been alienated to others.
- Numbers 36:8 When there is no male to inherit.
- Numbers 36:13 Touching the ceremonial and judicial laws.