Numbers 36

1 And there came near the chiefs of the divisions of the family of the children of Gil'ad, the son of Machir, the son of Menasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph; and they spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the chiefs of the divisions of the children of Israel;

The family leaders of the clan of Gilead of the tribe of Manasseh went to Moses/me and the other family leaders of the Israeli people.

2 And they said, the Lord hath commanded my Lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel; and my Lord hath been commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

They said to Moses/me, “Yahweh commanded you, our leader, to apportion the land to the Israeli tribes by throwing (lots/stones that have been marked) to decide [which group would get which area]. Yahweh also commanded you to give the land that belonged to our fellow Israeli Zelophehad to his daughters.

3 And if they become the wives of any of the sons of the [other] tribes of the children of Israel: then will their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and be added to the inheritance of the tribe whereamong they may be married; and from the lot of our inheritance will it be taken away.

But if his daughters marry men from the other Israeli tribes, that land will no longer belong to our tribe. People of other tribes will get it. So some of our land will no longer belong to us.

4 And whenever the jubilee shall be to the children of Israel: then will their inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe whereamong they may be married; and from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers will their inheritance be taken away.

When the Year of Celebration comes, [when all the land that has been bought by someone is returned to its original owners], the land that belonged to Zelophehad will belong to the tribes of the men that his daughters marry. So some of our land, the land that we received from our fathers, will be taken from us, [and we will never own it again].”

5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel by the order of the Lord, saying, the tribe of the sons of Joseph have spoken well.

Yahweh told Moses/me what to reply to them, so Moses/I said this to them: “These men from the tribe of Manasseh are right.

6 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, To those who are pleasing in their eyes may they become wives; however only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they become wives.

This is what Yahweh is saying to the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Each of you may marry anyone you want to, but you must marry only someone from your own tribe.’

7 And the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not pass from tribe to tribe; but the children of Israel shall adhere every one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

In that way, the land that belongs to Israelis will not be passed from one tribe to another tribe. Each Israeli will keep the land in the tribe that belonged to his ancestors.

8 And every daughter that inheriteth any possession out of any tribe of the children of Israel, shall become the wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father; in order that the children of Israel may inherit every one the inheritance of his fathers.

A woman who inherits her father’s land may get married, but she must marry someone from her own tribe. In that way, every Israeli will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors.

9 And no inheritance shall pass from one tribe to another tribe; but the tribes of the children of Israel shall adhere, every one, to his own inheritance.

The land must not be passed from one tribe to another tribe. Each Israeli tribe must keep the land that it received from its ancestors.”

10 Even as the Lord had commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad;

Zelophehad’s daughters obeyed what Yahweh told Moses/me.

11 And Machlah, Tirzah, and Choglah, and Milcah, and No'ah, the daughters of Zelophehad became the wives of the sons of their uncles.

The five daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah—married their cousins, their father’s relatives.

12 [To persons] of the families of the sons of Menasseh the son of Joseph did they become wives, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

The men whom they married were from the tribe of Manasseh, so their land continued to belong to their father’s family and tribe.

13 These are the commandments and the ordinances, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel, in the plain of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Those were the commands [DOU] that Yahweh gave to Moses/me to tell to the Israelis, while they/we were on the plains of the Moab region, close to the Jordan River, across from Jericho.