Numbers 36:5-13

5 So Moses gave the Israelites this command from the LORD : “The claim of the men of the tribe of Joseph is legitimate.

6 This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry anyone they like, as long as it is within their own ancestral tribe.

7 None of the territorial land may pass from tribe to tribe, for all the land given to each tribe must remain within the tribe to which it was first allotted.

8 The daughters throughout the tribes of Israel who are in line to inherit property must marry within their tribe, so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property.

9 No grant of land may pass from one tribe to another; each tribe of Israel must keep its allotted portion of land.”

10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD commanded Moses.

11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah all married cousins on their father’s side.

12 They married into the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. Thus, their inheritance of land remained within their ancestral tribe.

13 These are the commands and regulations that the LORD gave to the people of Israel through Moses while they were camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.

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.