Numbers 36

1 The family heads of the descendants of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, one of the tribes of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the Israelite leaders, the heads of families.

Now the heads of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came to Moses, the chiefs and the heads of families of the children of Israel being present,

2 They said, “When the Lord ordered you, my lord, to allocate land ownership to the Israelites by lot, he also ordered you to give our brother Zelophehad's share to his daughters.

And said, The Lord gave orders to my lord to make distribution of the land as their heritage to the children of Israel: and my lord was ordered by the Lord to give the heritage of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

3 However, if they marry men from the other tribes of Israel, their allocation would be taken away our fathers' share and added to the tribe of the men they marry. That part of our allocation would be lost to us.

Now if they get married to any of the sons of other tribes of the children of Israel, then their property will be taken away from the heritage of our fathers, and become part of the heritage of the tribe into which they get married: and their heritage will be taken away from the heritage of our tribe.

4 So when the Jubilee for the Israelites comes around, their allocation would be added to the tribe into which they marry, and taken away from our fathers' tribe.”

And at the time of the Jubilee of the children of Israel, their property will be joined to the heritage of the tribe of which they are part and will be taken away from the heritage of the tribe of our fathers.

5 Following what the Lord told him, Moses gave these orders to the Israelites, “What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right.

So by the direction of the Lord, Moses gave orders to the children of Israel, saying, What the tribe of the sons of Joseph have said is right.

6 This is what the Lord has ordered in regard to Zelophehad's daughters: They can marry anyone they want as long as they marry within a family that belongs to their father's tribe.

This is the order of the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: The Lord says, Let them take as their husbands whoever is most pleasing to them, but only among the family of their father's tribe.

7 No land allocation in Israel may be passed from tribe to tribe, because every Israelite is to hold onto the allocation of his father's tribe.

And so no property will be handed from tribe to tribe among the children of Israel; but every one of the children of Israel will keep the heritage of his father's tribe.

8 Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any Israelite tribe must marry within a clan of the tribe of her father, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers.

And every daughter owning property in any tribe of the children of Israel is to be married to one of the family of her father's tribe, so that every man of the children of Israel may keep the heritage of his fathers.

9 No land allocation may be passed from one tribe to another, for each Israelite tribe must hold onto its own allocation.”

And no property will be handed from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel will keep its heritage.

10 Zelophehad's daughters followed the Lord's orders through Moses.

So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord gave orders to Moses:

11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad's daughters, married cousins on their father's side.

For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, took as their husbands the sons of their father's brothers:

12 They married within the families of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph, and their land allocation stayed within their father's tribe.

And were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their property was kept in the tribe of their father's family

13 These are the orders and regulations that the Lord gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

These are the laws and the orders which the Lord gave to the children of Israel by Moses, in the lowlands of Moab by Jordan at Jericho.