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Inheritance Through Marriage

¹ The leaders^[a] of the families^[b] of the clans of descendants^[c] of Gilead the son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, of the clans of the descendants^[d] of Joseph came near and spoke before^[e] Moses and before^[f] the leaders^[g] of the families^[h] of the Israelites.^{[i] 2} And they said, "Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land by lot as an inheritance to the Israelites,^[j] and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. ³ But if they become wives to one of the sons from another tribe of the Israelites,^[k] their inheritance will disappear from the inheritance of our ancestors,^[l] and it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; the lot of our inheritance would disappear. ⁴ When the Jubilee of the Israelites^[m] comes,^[n] it will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; and their inheritance will disappear from the tribe of our father."

⁵ Then Moses commanded the Israelites^[o] by the command of Yahweh, saying, "The tribe of the descendants^[p] of Joseph is right regarding what they are speaking. ⁶ This is the word that Yahweh commanded the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry^[q] whomever they like;^[r] only they must marry^[s] from within the clan of the tribe of their father. ⁷ Thus an inheritance of the Israelites^[t] will not go around from tribe to tribe. Rather, the inheritance of each tribe of his father will remain with the Israelites.^{[u] 8} Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from the tribes of the Israelites^[v] will marry^[w] one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that the Israelites^[x] will possess the inheritance of his ancestors.^{[y] 9} Therefore an inheritance will not go around from one tribe to another tribe because the tribes of the Israelites^[z] will each hold to their own inheritance.'"

¹⁰ Just as Yahweh commanded to Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did: ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married^[aa] the sons of their uncles. ¹² They married^[ab] those from the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained^[ac] among the tribe of the clan of their ancestors.^[ad]

¹³ These were the commands and the stipulations that Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses^[ae] to the Israelites^[af] on the desert-plateaus of Moab by the Jordan across Jericho.