1. The family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of the Israelite families.
2. They said, ‘When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.
3. Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away.
4. When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our ancestors.’
5. Then at the Lord’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: ‘What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right.
6. This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: they may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within their father’s tribal clan.
7. No inheritance in Israel is to pass from one tribe to another, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal inheritance of their ancestors.
8. Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of their ancestors.
9. No inheritance may pass from one tribe to another, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.’
10. So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses.
11. Zelophehad’s daughters – Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah – married their cousins on their father’s side.
12. They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father’s tribe and clan.
13. These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.Footnotes for the Book of Numbersa 9 Most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text; some manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint (see also 8:16) to meb 28 Hebrew; some Septuagint manuscripts 8,300c 47 That is, about 58 gramsd 50 That is, about 16 kilogramsa 2 The Hebrew word for defiling skin disease, traditionally translated ‘leprosy’, was used for various diseases affecting the skin.b 6 Or woman who commits any wrong common to mankindc 15 That is, probably about 1.6 kilogramsd 21 That is, may he cause your name to be used in cursing (see Jer. 29:22); or, may others see that you are cursed; similarly in verse 27.e 26 Or representativea 13 That is, about 1.5 kilograms; also elsewhere in this chapterb 13 That is, about 800 grams; also elsewhere in this chapterc 14 That is, about 115 grams; also elsewhere in this chapterd 16 Or purification offering; also elsewhere in this chaptere 85 That is, about 28 kilogramsf 86 That is, about 1.4 kilogramsa 3 Taberah means burning.b 31 That is, about 90 centimetresc 32 That is, possibly about 1.6 metric tonsd 34 Kibroth Hattaavah means graves of craving.a 23 Eshkol means cluster; also in verse 24.a 4 That is, probably about 1.6 kilogramsb 4 That is, about 1 litre; also in verse 5c 6 That is, probably about 3.2 kilogramsd 6 That is, about 1.3 litres; also in verse 7e 9 That is, probably about 5 kilogramsf 9 That is, about 1.9 litres; also in verse 10g 24 Or purification offering; also in verses 25 and 27a In Hebrew texts 17:1-13 is numbered 17:16-28.a 13 Meribah means quarrelling.a 32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this clause is uncertain.a 4 Hebrew Shaddai; also in verse 16b 17 Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Jer. 48:45); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain.c 17 Or possibly Moab, / batterd 17 Or all the noisy boasterse 23 Masoretic Text; with a different word division of the Hebrew The people from the islands will gather from the north.a 18 Or the Spirita 3 That is, probably about 5 kilograms; also in verses 9 and 14b 3 That is, probably about 3.2 kilograms; also in verses 9 and 14c 4 That is, probably about 1.6 kilograms; also in verses 10 and 15d 5 Or purification offering; also elsewhere in this chaptere 7 Or must fastf 40 In Hebrew texts this verse (29:40) is numbered 30:1.a 52 That is, about 190 kilogramsa 8 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch and Vulgate; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text left from before Hahirothb 10 Or the Sea of Reeds; also in verse 11a 4 That is, about 450 metresb 5 That is, about 900 metres