Numbers 27, 36

Numbers 27

Zelophehad’s Daughters

¹ Then the daughters of Zelophehad came forward. (Zelophehad was the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph.) These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah. ² They stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before Moses and Eleazar the priest, before the tribal chiefs and the entire community. They said, ³ “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered together against the Lord along with the followers of Korah, but he died in his own sin. He had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be taken away from a place among his clan, because he had no son? Give us property among our father’s brothers.”

⁵ Moses brought their case before the Lord. ⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁷ “What the daughters of Zelophehad say is correct. You must give them property as an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You are to allow their father’s inheritance to be passed down to them. ⁸ You are to tell the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you are to have his inheritance pass down to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, then you will give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If his father has no brothers, then you will give his inheritance to his closest relative from his clan, and he will take possession of it. This will be a legal statute for the Israelites, just as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

Joshua Will Succeed Moses

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Go up onto this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land which I have given to the Israelites. ¹³ After you have seen it, you yourself will also be gathered to your people just as Aaron your brother was gathered. ¹⁴ For when the community quarreled in the Wilderness of Zin, you both rebelled against my command to honor me as holy in their sight at the waters.” (This refers to the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵ Moses spoke to the Lord, ¹⁶ “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the community, ¹⁷ who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the community of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ The Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and place your hand on him. ¹⁹ Have him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire community. You will commission him in their sight. ²⁰ You will give some of your authority to him so that the entire Israelite community will listen to him. ²¹ He will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will inquire for him before the Lord with the decision of the Urim. He and all the Israelites with him, the entire community, will go out at his command and come in at his command.”

²² Moses did just as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand in front of Eleazar the priest and the entire community. ²³ He placed his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord spoke through Moses.

Numbers 36

Inheritance for Zelophehad’s Daughters

¹ The leading fathers of the clan of the descendants of Gilead, the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, from the clans of the sons of Joseph, approached Moses and spoke to Moses and the tribal chiefs, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel. ² They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to assign the land for the Israelites’ inheritance by lot. My lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. ³ Now, if they marry any of the men from the other Israelite tribes, then their inheritance would be taken away from our ancestral inheritance and would be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they married. So part of our allotted inheritance would be taken away. ⁴ When the Jubilee occurs for the Israelites, that inheritance would be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they married. Therefore that inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”

⁵ Then at the Lord’s word, Moses commanded the Israelites, “What the tribe of Joseph’s descendants is saying is right. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may be married to whomever they wish, but they are to be married within the clan of their father’s tribe. ⁷ In that way no inheritance for the Israelites will transfer from tribe to tribe, for each of the Israelites is to keep the inheritance of his ancestral tribe. ⁸ Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any of the Israelite tribes is to be married to someone from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that each of the Israelites will retain possession of the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ So no inheritance will transfer from one tribe to another tribe, for each of the Israelite tribes will keep its own inheritance.”

¹⁰ So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹¹ Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—were married to cousins on their father’s side. ¹² They were married to men from the clans of the descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph. Their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.

¹³ These are the commands and the ordinances which the Lord commanded through Moses for the Israelites on the Plains of Moab near the Jordan across from Jericho.