Numbers 36

1 Then the leaders of the families of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the stock of the sons of Joseph, approached and spoke to Moses before the leaders of Israel, and they said:

Then the leaders of the ancestors' families of the clan of Gilead son of Machir (who was Manasseh's son), who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and before the leaders who were the heads of the ancestor's families of the people of Israel.

2 “The Lord has instructed you, our ruler, so that you would divide the land by lot to the sons of Israel, and so that you would give to the daughters of Zelophehad, our brother, the possession owed to their father.

They said, “Yahweh commanded you, our master, to give a share of land by lot to the people of Israel. You were commanded by Yahweh to give the share of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

3 But if men of another tribe receive them as wives, their possession will follow them, and having been transferred to another tribe, there will be a reduction in our inheritance.

But if his daughters marry men in another tribe of the people of Israel, then their share of land will be removed from our ancestor's share. It will be added to the share of the tribes that they join. In that case, it will be removed from the assigned share of our inheritance.

4 And so it may be that, when the Jubilee of remission, that is, the fiftieth year, has arrived, the distribution by lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall be transferred to others.”

In that case, when the year of Jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their share will be joined to the share of the tribe that they have joined. In this way, their share will be taken away from the share of our ancestors' tribe.”

5 Moses answered the sons of Israel, and, at the instruction of the Lord, he said: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph has spoken correctly.

So Moses gave a command to the people of Israel, at Yahweh's word. He said, “What the tribe of Joseph's descendants says is right.

6 And so, this is the law which has been promulgated by the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry whomever they may wish, but only among the men of their own tribe,

This is what Yahweh commands concerning Zelophehad's daughters. He says, 'Let them be married to whom they think best, but they must marry only within the family of their father's tribe.'

7 lest the possession of the sons of Israel become commingled, from tribe to tribe. For all men shall take wives from their own tribe and kinship;

No share of the people of Israel must change from one tribe to another. Each one of the people of Israel must continue with the share of his ancestor's tribe.

8 and all women shall take husbands from their same tribe, so that the inheritance may remain within the families,

Every woman of the people of Israel who owns a share in her tribe must marry someone from the clans belonging to her father's tribe. This is so that everyone of the people of Israel may own an inheritance from his ancestors.

9 and so that the tribes may not be mingled together, but may remain such as they were separated by the Lord.”

No share may change hands from one tribe to another. Everyone of the tribes of the people of Israel must keep his own inheritance.”

10 And the daughters of Zelophehad acted according to what was ordered.

So Zelophehad's daughters did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

11 And Mahlah, and Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noa were wed to the sons of their paternal uncle,

Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married descendants of Manasseh.

12 from the family of Manasseh, who was a son of Joseph. And the possession which had been distributed to them remained in the tribe and family of their father.

They married into the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph. In this way, their inheritances remained in the tribe to which their father's clan belonged.

13 These are the commandments and judgments which the Lord ordered by the hand of Moses to the sons of Israel, in the plains of Moab, above the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

These are the commands and the decrees that Yahweh gave by Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.