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Women and Land Inheritance

36 Then the heads of the family groups[a] of the Gileadites, the descendant of Machir, the descendant of Manasseh, who were from the Josephite families, approached and spoke before Moses[b] and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families.[c] They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to give[d] the land as an inheritance by lot to the Israelites; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now if they should be married to one of the men[e] from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry.[f] As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 36:1 tn The expression is “the heads of the fathers by the family of the Gileadites.”
  2. Numbers 36:1 tn The Greek and the Syriac add “and before Eleazar the priest.”
  3. Numbers 36:1 tn Heb “heads of the fathers.”
  4. Numbers 36:2 tn The infinitive construct “to give” serves here as the complement or object of the verb, answering what the Lord had commanded Moses.
  5. Numbers 36:3 tn “Men” is understood; it says “to one from the sons of the tribes of the Israelites for a wife,” or if he has her for a wife.
  6. Numbers 36:3 tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.

Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters(A)

36 The family heads of the clan of Gilead(B) son of Makir,(C) the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph,(D) came and spoke before Moses and the leaders,(E) the heads of the Israelite families. They said, “When the Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot,(F) he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad(G) to his daughters. Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away.

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