Numbers 27:1-11

New Catholic Bible

Chapter 27

Zelophehad’s Daughters.^{[a] 1} The daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, the son of Joseph came forward. The names of the daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ² They stood before Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and the leaders and all the assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting. They said, ³ “Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the band of those who conspired together with Korah against the Lord. He died on account of his own sin. He had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father perish from his clan because he did not have a son? Give us property among our father’s kinsmen.”

⁵ So Moses brought their case before the Lord. ⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁷ “What Zelophehad’s daughters are saying is just. You surely must give them property as an inheritance among their father’s kinsmen, and you must turn their father’s inheritance over to them. ⁸ Say to the people of Israel, ‘If a man dies and leaves no son, then turn over his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, then turn over his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, then give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ If the father has no brothers, you will give his inheritance to his nearest kinsman in his clan so that he might possess it. This will be a statute and an ordinance for the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.’ ”