Numbers 36:5-13

5 Moshe gave this order to the people of Isra'el, in keeping with the word of ADONAI : "The tribe of the descendants of Yosef is right in what it says.

6 Here is what ADONAI has ordered concerning the daughters of Tz'lof'chad: 'Let them be married to whomever they think best, but they must marry only into a family from their father's tribe.

7 In this way no inheritance of the people of Isra'el will move from one tribe to another; for each of the people of Isra'el is to hold on to the land for inheritance belonging to his father's tribe.

8 Every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Isra'el is to become the wife of someone from the family of her father's tribe, so that every one of the people of Isra'el will stay in possession of his ancestors' inheritance.

9 Thus no inheritance will move from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Isra'el will hold on to its own inheritance."

10 The daughters of Tz'lof'chad did as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

11 Machlah, Tirtzah, Hoglah, Milkah and No'ah all got married to sons of their father's brothers.

12 They were married into the families of the descendants of M'nasheh the son of Yosef, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's family.

13 These are the mitzvot and rulings which ADONAI gave through Moshe to the people of Isra'el in the plains of Mo'av by the Yarden, across from Yericho. 4 1-2

Numbers 36:5-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 36

This chapter gives an account of an application made by the heads of the tribe of Manasseh, concerning the inheritances of the daughters of Zelophehad, which, should they marry into other tribes, would be removed thither, and so be a loss to theirs, Nu 36:1-4, which case was judged worthy of regard; and to remedy this inconvenience, they were ordered to marry into the family of their father's tribe, and this was to be a law to all heiresses for the future in other tribes, Nu 36:5-9 and accordingly the daughters of Zelophehad married their father's brothers' sons, Nu 36:10-13.