Numbers 36

1 Then came near the heads of fathers, belonging to the family of the sons of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, out of the families of the sons of Joseph, —and spake before Moses, and before the princes, heads of fathers belonging to the sons of Israel;

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.

2 and they said—Unto my lord, did Yahweh give command, to bestow the land as an inheritance, by lot, unto the sons of Israel, —my lord, therefore, was commanded by Yahweh, to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

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.

3 When, therefore, unto any one from among the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, they become wives their inheritance shall disappear out of the inheritance of our fathers, and be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall be received, —and so out of the lot of our inheritance, shall it disappear,

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.

4 And when the jubilee shall come to the sons of Israel, then shall their inheritance be added unto the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall be received—and, out of the, inheritance of the tribe of our fathers, shall their inheritance disappear.

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.”

5 Then Moses commanded the sons of Israel, at the bidding of Yahweh saying, —A right thing, are, the tribe of the sons of Joseph, speaking,

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

6 This, is the thing which Yahweh hath commanded, as to the daughters of Zelophehad saying: Unto whomsoever it may be good in their eyes, let them become wives, —save only unto the family of the tribe of their father, let them become wives.

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.

7 So shall no inheritance belonging to the sons of Israel go round from tribe to tribe, —for the sons of Israel shall, each one, cleave, unto the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers,

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.

8 And, every daughter possessing all inheritance from among the tribes of the sons of Israel, unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, shall become wife, —to the intent that the sons of Israel may possess each one the inheritance of his fathers;

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.

9 and no inheritance go round from one tribe to another tribe, —for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall cleave, each one unto his own inheritance.

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

10 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so, did the daughters of Zelophehad.

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

11 Thus then did Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milchah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, become wives, unto the sons of their father’s brethren.

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

12 Unto men from among the families of the son of Manasseh son of Joseph, became they wives, —and so their inheritance remained with the tribe of the family of their father.

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

13 These are the commandments and the regulations which Yahweh gave in charge, by the hand of Moses, unto the sons of Israel, —in the waste plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho.

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