Numbers 36:1-11

Women and Land Inheritance

36:1 Then the heads of the family groups ¹  of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses ²  and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families. ³  36:2 They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give ⁴  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 ⁵  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. ⁶  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, ⁷  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.” ⁸ 

Moses’ Decision

36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling ⁹  to the Israelites by the word ¹⁰  of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 36:6 This is what ¹¹  the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry ¹²  whomever they think best, ¹³  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 ¹⁴  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 ¹⁵  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. ¹⁶ 

[36:1]  ¹ tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”

[36:1]  ² tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”

[36:1]  ³ tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”

[36:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.

[36:4]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”

[36:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “commanded.”

[36:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “mouth.”

[36:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the word that.”

[36:6]  ¹² tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”

[36:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”

[36:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[36:8]  ¹⁵ 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.”

[36:11]  ¹⁶ tn They married in the family as they were instructed. But the meaning of דּוֹד (dod) is not necessarily restricted to “uncle.”