Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son
of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of
Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were:
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before
Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all
the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying,
“Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of
those who gathered themselves together against the LORD in the
company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why
should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because
he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's
brothers.”
Moses brought their case before the LORD. And the LORD said to
Moses, “The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them
possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and
transfer the inheritance of their father to them. And you shall
speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no
son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. And
if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his
brothers. And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his
inheritance to his father's brothers. And if his father has no
brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest
kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for
the people of Israel a statute and rule, as the LORD commanded
Moses.’”
The LORD said to Moses, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and
see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you
have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your
brother Aaron was, because you rebelled against my word in the
wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to
uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the
waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) Moses spoke
to the LORD, saying, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all
flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before
them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring
them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that
have no shepherd.” So the LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son
of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Make
him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and
you shall commission him in their sight. You shall invest him with
some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of
Israel may obey. And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who
shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before the LORD.
At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in,
both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole
congregation.” And Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took
Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole
congregation, and he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as
the LORD directed through Moses.
