Chapter Thirty-Six

A supplement to the law concerning heiresses of a land inheritance. The conclusion of the Book of Numbers.

Numbers 36:1. Now the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders, the chief fathers of the children of Israel. Numbers 36:2. And they said: The Lord commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters; Numbers 36:3. Now if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. Numbers 36:4. And when the Jubilee of the children of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; and their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Numbers 36:5. Then Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, saying: What the tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks is correct. Numbers 36:6. This is what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying: Let them marry to whom they think best; only, they may marry within the family of the tribe of their father, Numbers 36:7. So that the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. Numbers 36:8. And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of someone of the family of her father’s tribe, so that the children of Israel each possess the inheritance of his fathers; Numbers 36:9. So that the inheritance shall not change from one tribe to another tribe; for every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep itself to its own inheritance. See the book Num 27:1-11 and the note to verse 8 of this chapter. Regarding the Jubilee year see the book Lev 25:1.

Numbers 36:11. And the daughters of Zelophehad married the sons of their father’s brothers; The law set forth in Lev 18 and Lev 20 did not forbid such marriages.

Numbers 36:13. These are the commandments and the ordinances which the Lord commanded the children of Israel through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho. The conclusion of the Book of Numbers.