Marriage of Female Heirs
1 Now the chief fathers of the families of thechildren of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near andspoke before Moses and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel.
2 And they said:“TheLordcommanded my lordMosesto give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel, andmy lord was commanded by theLordto give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.
3 Now if they are married to any of the sons of theothertribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will betaken from the inheritance of our fathers, and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.
4 And whenthe Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
5 Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of theLord, saying:“What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is right.
6 Thisiswhat theLordcommands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they think best,but they may marry only within the family of their father’s tribe.’
7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shallkeep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
8 Andevery daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands fromonetribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance.”
10 Just as theLordcommanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad;
11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to the sons of their father’s brothers.
12 They were married into the families of the children of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.
13 Thesearethe commandments and the judgments which theLordcommanded the children of Israel by the hand of Mosesin the plains of Moab by the Jordan,acrossfromJericho.