Numbers 27:1-7

Special Inheritance Laws

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. 27:2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, 27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although ³  he was not part of ⁴  the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, ⁵  and he had no sons. 27:4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession ⁶  among the relatives ⁷  of our father.”

27:5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord. 27:6 The Lord said to Moses: 27:7 “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. ⁸  You must indeed ⁹  give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer ¹⁰  the inheritance of their father to them.

[27:1]  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.

[27:1]  ² tc The phrase “of the families of Manasseh” is absent from the Latin Vulgate.

[27:3]  ³ tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.

[27:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

[27:3]  ⁵ tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”

[27:4]  ⁵ tn That is, the possession of land, or property, among the other families of their tribe.

[27:4]  ⁶ tn The word is “brothers,” but this can be interpreted more loosely to relatives. So also in v. 7.

[27:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “[the daughters of Zelophehad] speak right” (using the participle דֹּבְרֹת [dovÿrot] with כֵּן [ken]).

[27:7]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute with the imperfect tense. The imperfect is functioning as the imperfect of instruction, and so the infinitive strengthens the force of the instruction.

[27:7]  ⁹ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive, from the root עָבַר (’avar, “to pass over”). Here it functions as the equivalent of the imperfect of instruction: “and you shall cause to pass,” meaning, “transfer.”