Numbers 36

1 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.

And the heads of the fathers of the families of the sons of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, come near and speak before Moses and before the princes, heads of the fathers of the sons of Israel,

2 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.

and say, “YHWH commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel, and my lord has been commanded by YHWH to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

3 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.

Now [if] they have been [given] to one from the sons of the [other] tribes of the sons of Israel for wives, and their inheritance has been withdrawn from the inheritance of our fathers, and has been added to the inheritance of the tribe which is theirs, and it is withdrawn from the lot of our inheritance,

4 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].”

and if it is the Jubilee of the sons of Israel, then their inheritance has been added to the inheritance of the tribe which is theirs, and their inheritance is withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”

5 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.

And Moses commands the sons of Israel by the command of YHWH, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph is speaking correctly;

6 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.’

this [is] the thing which YHWH has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, To those good in their eyes let them be for wives; only, let them be for wives to a family of the tribe of their fathers;

7 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.

and the inheritance of the sons of Israel does not turn around from tribe to tribe; for each of the sons of Israel cleaves to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

8 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.

And every daughter possessing an inheritance from the tribes of the sons of Israel is for a wife to one from the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each possess the inheritance of his fathers,

9 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.”

and the inheritance does not turn around from [one] tribe to another tribe; for each of the tribes of the sons of Israel cleaves to his inheritance.”

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

As YHWH has commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad have done,

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

and Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, daughters of Zelophehad, are for wives to the sons of their fathers’ brothers;

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

they have been for wives [to men] from the families of the sons of Manasseh, son of Joseph, and their inheritance is with the tribe of the family of their father.

13 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.

These [are] the commands and the judgments which YHWH has commanded by the hand of Moses concerning the sons of Israel, in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, [near] Jericho.