Numbers 36:5-13

Moses’ Decision

36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling ¹  to the Israelites by the word ²  of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 36:6 This is what ³  the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry ⁴  whomever they think best, ⁵  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 ⁶  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 ⁷  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. ⁸  36:12 They were married into the families of the Manassehites, the descendants of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s family.

36:13 These are the commandments and the decisions that the Lord commanded the Israelites through the authority ⁹  of Moses, on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River ¹⁰  opposite Jericho. ¹¹ 

[36:5]  ¹ tn Heb “commanded.”

[36:5]  ² tn Heb “mouth.”

[36:6]  ³ tn Heb “the word that.”

[36:6]  ⁴ tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”

[36:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”

[36:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[36:8]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn They married in the family as they were instructed. But the meaning of דּוֹד (dod) is not necessarily restricted to “uncle.”

[36:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “by the hand.”

[36:13]  ¹⁰ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[36:13]  ¹¹ map For the location of Jericho see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.