Numbers 36:1

1 The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh - they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph - approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.

Numbers 36:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 36:1

And the chief fathers of the families of the children of
Gilead
The princes, as Aben Ezra; so the Septuagint version, which was the tribe of Manasseh, whose grandson Gilead was, as follows:

the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of the sons of
Joseph, came near;
to the house of judgment, as the Targum of Jonathan, the sanhedrim or court of judicature, consisting of the following persons:

and spoke before Moses;
the Septuagint version adds, "and before Eleazar the priest", as in ( Numbers 27:2 ) ( 32:2 )

and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel:
the princes of the several tribes; or it may be rather the seventy elders.

Numbers 36:1 In-Context

1 The heads of the ancestral clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh - they were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph - approached Moses and the leaders who were heads of the families in the People of Israel.
2 They said, "When God commanded my master to hand over the inheritance-lands by lot to the People of Israel, my master was also commanded by God to hand over the inheritance-land of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
3 But what happens if they marry into another tribe in the People of Israel? Their inheritance-land will be taken out of our ancestral tribe and get added into the tribe into which they married.
4 And then when the Year of Jubilee comes for the People of Israel their inheritance will be lumped in with the inheritance of the tribe into which they married - their land will be removed from our ancestors' inheritance!"
5 Moses, at God's command, issued this order to the People of Israel: "What the tribe of the sons of Joseph says is right.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.