2. They said, “The Lord commanded you, our master, to give the land to the Israelites by throwing lots. And the Lord commanded you to give the land of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.
3. His daughters may marry men from other tribes of Israel. Then that land will leave our family. The people of the other tribes will get that land. So we will lose some of our land.
4. The time of Jubilee will come for the Israelites. Then their land will go to other tribes. It will go to the tribes of the people they marry. So their land will be taken away from us. And that was land we received from our fathers.”
5. Then Moses gave the Israelites this command from the Lord: “These men from the tribe of Joseph are right.
6. This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: You may marry anyone you wish from your own tribe.
7. In this way the Israelites’ land will not pass from tribe to tribe. Each Israelite will keep the land in the tribe that belonged to his ancestors.
8. A woman who inherits her father’s land may marry. But she must marry someone from her own tribe. In this way every Israelite will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors.
9. The land must not pass from tribe to tribe. Each Israelite tribe will keep the land it received from its ancestors.”