Numbers 36

₁Gilead was the first son of Makir, son of Manasseh. They were descendants of Joseph. The leaders of the families of Gilead came to Moses and talked to the leaders_of_Israel. ₂They said: ‘Sir, the Lord told you to draw_lots and divide the land among the Israelites. The Lord also told you to give the land of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ₃But if they get married to men from other tribes_of_Israel, then those men will take away the land from the land of the forefathers of our tribe and give it to be land of other tribes. Then that land will no longer be land that you gave to us. ₄And when people must give back land in the year_of_freedom_and_celebration, that land will not become our land again. It will belong to the tribe of the men whom they married and not to the tribe of our forefather.’

₅The Lord told Moses what he must do and Moses said to the Israelites: ₆‘This is what the Lord said about the daughters of Zelophehad: “They may marry anyone they want to, but only men from the families of the tribe of their forefather. ₇Then the land of Israel will not go from one tribe to another tribe, and every Israelite will keep the land of the tribe of his forefathers. ₈Every daughter who receives land from one of the tribes_of_Israel must marry someone in a family of the tribe of her forefather, so that every Israelite will keep the land of the tribe of his forefather. ₉Land must not go from one tribe to another tribe. Every tribe of Israel must keep its land.” ’

₁₀The daughters of Zelophehad did what the Lord said. ₁₁Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married their cousins. ₁₂They married men who were descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph, and their land stayed with the land of the families of the descendants of their forefather.

₁₃These are the things that the Lord said and what He decided. He told Moses to tell this to the Israelites in the flatlands of Moab, near the Jordan River, on the other side of the city of Jericho.