The heads of the fathers' houses of the clan of the people of
Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the
people of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the
chiefs, the heads of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel.
They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for
inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and my lord was
commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our
brother to his daughters. But if they are married to any of the
sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their
inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and
added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So it
will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. And when the
jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will
be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and
their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe
of our fathers.”
And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the word of
the LORD, saying, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right. This
is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad:
‘Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry within
the clan of the tribe of their father. The inheritance of the
people of Israel shall not be transferred from one tribe to
another, for every one of the people of Israel shall hold on to the
inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. And every daughter who
possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall
be wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that
every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of
his fathers. So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe
to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall
hold on to its own inheritance.’”
The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses, for
Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of
Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father's brothers. They
were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh the son of
Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their
father's clan.
These are the commandments and the rules that the LORD commanded
through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the
Jordan at Jericho.
