Numbers 36 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1406 BC, the closing scene of the wilderness period and the last chapter of Numbers
Location
The plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, concerning land in the future territory of Manasseh
Audience
The tribes preparing to divide Canaan, and later Israelites working out inheritance disputes
Situation
The clan leaders of Manasseh raise a follow-up problem to the earlier ruling that let Zelophehad's daughters inherit their father's property: if those women marry outside the tribe, the land goes with them and Manasseh loses it permanently. Moses rules that heiresses in this situation must marry within their father's tribe.
Key Background
Land in Israel was understood as a permanent family trust rather than a tradable asset, and the year of jubilee, when sold property returned to its original clan, made a marriage transfer especially damaging since jubilee would not undo it. The daughters of Zelophehad first appear in Numbers 27, where their petition won an unprecedented right for women without brothers to inherit, and this chapter shows the legal system adjusting to a real consequence of that decision. Ending the book on a land-tenure ruling rather than a narrative underlines how much of Israel's identity was bound to holding specific ground.
The of the from the clan of — who was the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans descended from Joseph — came forward and spoke before Moses and the leaders who were of the Israelite
They said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to distribute the land by as an to the Israelites. And my lord was also commanded by Yahweh to give the of our brother to his daughters."
"But if they marry men from other Israelite tribes, then their will be taken away from our and added to the of whatever tribe they marry into. And so our allotted would shrink."
"And when the comes for the Israelites, their inheritance would be permanently added to the inheritance of the tribe they married into, and their inheritance would be permanently removed from our ancestral tribe's inheritance."
So Moses gave the Israelites this command, on what "The tribe of the descendants of Joseph is right."
"This is what Yahweh commands regarding Zelophehad's daughters: They may marry they — but they must marry within a clan of their father's tribe."
"No inheritance among the Israelites is to pass from one tribe to another. Every Israelite must on to the tribal inheritance of their ancestors."
"And every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone from a clan within her father's tribe. This way every Israelite will keep the inheritance of their ancestors."
"No inheritance is to transfer from one tribe to another. Each Israelite tribe must hold on to its own inheritance."
Zelophehad's daughters did exactly as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah — Zelophehad's daughters — married their on their
They married into the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance stayed within the tribe of their father's clan.
These are the and that Yahweh gave through Moses to the Israelites on the of by the from