Numbers 36:2-9

36:2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give ¹  the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. 36:3 Now if they should be married to one of the men ²  from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. ³  As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 36:4 And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place, ⁴  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 our ancestral tribe.” ⁵ 

Moses’ Decision

36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling ⁶  to the Israelites by the word ⁷  of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 36:6 This is what ⁸  the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry ⁹  whomever they think best, ¹⁰  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 ¹¹  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 ¹²  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.”

[36:2]  ¹ tn The infinitive construct “to give” serves here as the complement or object of the verb, answering what the Lord had commanded Moses.

[36:3]  ² 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.

[36:3]  ³ tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.

[36:4]  ⁴ 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.

[36:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”

[36:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “commanded.”

[36:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “mouth.”

[36:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “the word that.”

[36:6]  ⁹ tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”

[36:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”

[36:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[36:8]  ¹² 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.”