Numbers 36

And the chief fathers 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 near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:

1The family leaders of Gilead's clan came to Moses. Gilead was the son of Machir, and Machir was the son of Manasseh. Their family came from Joseph. They spoke to Moses and to the other leaders of Israel.

2And they said, The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.

2They said, "The LORD told you to divide the land among the people. Each tribe would get its own part. The LORD also told you to give Zelophehad's land to his daughters."

3And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

3"But what if they marry men from other tribes? Then their land would leave our family. It would become part of the tribe they marry into. So our tribe would lose part of its land."

4And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

4"And when the Jubilee year comes, their land will still belong to that other tribe. So it will be taken away from our tribe for good."

NoteThe Jubilee was a special year that came every fifty years. In that year, land that had been sold went back to the family it first belonged to.

5And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.

5Moses told the people what the LORD said. He said, "The tribe of Joseph is right about this."

6This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.

6"Here is what the LORD says about Zelophehad's daughters. They may marry whoever they want. But they must marry a man from their own father's tribe."

7So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

7"That way land will not move from one tribe to another. Each person in Israel will keep the land of his own family."

8And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers.

8"Every daughter who owns land must do this. She must marry a man from her father's tribe. Then every family will keep the land it was given."

9Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.

9"Land must not move from one tribe to another tribe. Each tribe will keep its own land."

10Even as the LORD commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:

10Zelophehad's daughters did just what the LORD told Moses.

11For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father’s brothers’ sons:

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

12And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.

12They married men from the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. So their land stayed inside their father's tribe.

13These are the commandments and the judgments, which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

13These are the rules and laws the LORD gave through Moses. He gave them to the people of Israel on the flat land of Moab. They were camped by the Jordan River, across from the city of Jericho.