Hoglah

33Zelophehad was the son of Hepher. He had no sons, only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

NoteLand was usually passed down to sons. These five sisters had no brother, so their names were written down.

1Five sisters came to Moses. Their father was Zelophehad. His father was Hepher. Before him came Gilead, then Machir, then Manasseh. Manasseh was a son of Joseph. So the sisters belonged to Manasseh's family. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these are the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

NoteIsrael was made of twelve big families called tribes. Manasseh was one of them. This long list of names shows which tribe the sisters belonged to. That decided where their family's land would be.

2They stood at the door of the tent where people met with God. They stood in front of Moses and Eleazar the priest. The leaders and all the people were there too. The sisters said:

And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,

NoteThis tent was Israel's holy place. People could take it down and carry it. God met with his people there. A priest was a man who served God at the tent.

3"Our father died out in the desert. He was not with Korah's group, who turned against the LORD. He died because of his own sin. And he had no sons.

Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the LORD in the company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.

NoteKorah was a man who turned against Moses and God. He and his friends were punished. The sisters say their father was not one of them. Sin means doing what is wrong.

4Why should our father's name be lost from his family, just because he had no son? Please give us land, like our father's brothers get."

Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.

NoteBack then, land was passed from a father to his sons. The land kept the family name going. With no son, the land would go to someone else. Then their father's name would be forgotten.

5So Moses took their question to the LORD.

And Moses brought their cause before the LORD.

6And the LORD said to Moses:

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

7"The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You must give them land of their own, among their father's brothers. Give them the land that would have gone to their father.

The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.

8Tell the people of Israel this rule. If a man dies and has no son, give his land to his daughter.

And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.

NoteThis was a new rule. Before this, only sons were given land. Now a daughter could get it if there were no sons.

9If he has no daughter, give his land to his brothers.

And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.

10If he has no brothers, give his land to his father's brothers.

And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren.

11If his father had no brothers, give the land to the closest relative in his family. That man will own it. This is a law for Israel, just as the LORD told Moses."

And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.

NoteA relative is someone in your family, like an uncle or a cousin.

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.

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:

NoteA tribe was one big family group. Israel had twelve of them. A clan was a smaller family group inside a tribe. Manasseh, Machir, and Gilead were grandfathers of these men. Moses was the leader who spoke with God for the people.

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."

And 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.

NoteWhen the King James says LORD in big letters, that is God's own name. Zelophehad had died, and he had no sons. Back then only sons got their father's land. His five daughters had asked Moses for it. God said the land could be theirs.

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."

And 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.

NoteLand was not bought and sold like today. Each family kept its own land forever. Children got it after their parents died. When a woman married, her land went with her. It became part of her husband's family land.

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."

And 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.

NoteEvery fiftieth year was called the Jubilee. In that year, land that had been sold went back to the family it came from. But this land would not come back. It would stay with the tribe the daughters married into.

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

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

6"Here is what the LORD says about Zelophehad's daughters. They may marry whoever they want. But they must marry inside a family group of their father's tribe."

This 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.

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

So 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.

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

And 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.

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

Neither 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.

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

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

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

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

NoteThese men were their cousins, sons of their father's brothers. In those days people often married a cousin. It kept the family and its land together.

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

And 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.

3But Zelophehad had no sons. He was the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh. He had only daughters. Their names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters: and these are the names of his daughters, Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.

NoteIn those days land was usually passed down to sons only. A man with no sons had no one to leave his fields to. So these five sisters had a problem, and they went and asked about it.

4The five sisters came to Eleazar the priest. They came to Joshua and the leaders too. They said, "The LORD told Moses to give us land, like our brothers get." So Joshua gave them land, just as the LORD had said.

And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the princes, saying, The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brethren. Therefore according to the commandment of the LORD he gave them an inheritance among the brethren of their father.

NoteMoses was the leader who guided Israel before Joshua did. When you see LORD in big letters, it stands for God's own name. The land a family got was called an inheritance. That means a gift handed down from parents to children. A priest was a man who served God for the people.

5So Manasseh got ten pieces of land. That was not counting Gilead and Bashan, which were across the Jordan River.

And there fell ten portions to Manasseh, beside the land of Gilead and Bashan, which were on the other side Jordan;

NoteThe Jordan River ran down the middle of the land. Some of the tribes settled on the east side of it.

6This was because the daughters of Manasseh got land along with the sons. The land of Gilead went to the rest of Manasseh's sons.

Because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons: and the rest of Manasseh’s sons had the land of Gilead.