Numbers 36

Marriage of Female Heirs

1 Now the chief fathers of the families of the *Num. 26:29children of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and *Num. 27:1–11spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel. 2 And they said: *Num. 26:55; 33:54; Josh. 17:4"The Lord commanded my lord Moses to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, and *Num. 27:1, 5–7my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 3 Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be *Num. 27:4taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 4 And when *Lev. 25:10the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will 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: *Num. 27:7"What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right. 6 This is what the Lord commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, *Num. 36:11, 12but they may marry only within the family of their father’s tribe.’ 7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall *1 Kin. 21:3keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. 8 And *1 Chr. 23:22every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers. 9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance."

10 Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; 11 *Num. 26:33; 27:1for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to the sons of their father’s brothers. 12 They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

13 These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses *Num. 26:3; 33:50in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, acrossfrom Jericho.