27:1 1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, 2 the son Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling 8 to the Israelites by the word 9 of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 36:6 This is what 10 the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry 11 whomever they think best, 12 only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe. 36:7 In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred 13 from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage. 36:8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite 14 may retain the inheritance of his fathers. 36:9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”
36:10 As the Lord had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did. 36:11 For the daughters of Zelophehad – Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah – were married to the sons of their uncles. 15
1 sn For additional information on this section, see N. H. Snaith, “The Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 124-27; and J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 518-22.
2 tc The phrase “of the families of Manasseh” is absent from the Latin Vulgate.
3 tn The infinitive construct “to give” serves here as the complement or object of the verb, answering what the
4 tn “Men” is understood; it says “to one from the sons of the tribes of the Israelites for a wife,” or if he has her for a wife.
5 tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.
6 tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.
7 tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”
8 tn Heb “commanded.”
9 tn Heb “mouth.”
10 tn Heb “the word that.”
11 tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”
12 tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”
13 tn Heb “turned aside.”
14 tn The subject is “Israelites” and the verb is plural to agree with it, but the idea is collective as the word for “man” indicates: “so that the Israelites may possess – [each] man the inheritance of his fathers.”
15 tn They married in the family as they were instructed. But the meaning of דּוֹד (dod) is not necessarily restricted to “uncle.”