Bilangan 36:3-9

36:3 Now if they should be married to one of the men ¹  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. ²  As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance. 36:4 And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place, ³  their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.” ⁴ 

Moses’ Decision

36:5 Then Moses gave a ruling ⁵  to the Israelites by the word ⁶  of the Lord: “What the tribe of the Josephites is saying is right. 36:6 This is what ⁷  the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad’s daughters: ‘Let them marry ⁸  whomever they think best, ⁹  only they must marry within the family of their father’s tribe. 36:7 In this way the inheritance of the Israelites will not be transferred ¹⁰  from tribe to tribe. But every one of the Israelites must retain the ancestral heritage. 36:8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any of the tribes of the Israelites must become the wife of a man from any family in her father’s tribe, so that every Israelite ¹¹  may retain the inheritance of his fathers. 36:9 No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe. But every one of the tribes of the Israelites must retain its inheritance.”

[36:3]  ¹ 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.

[36:3]  ² tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.

[36:4]  ³ tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.

[36:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”

[36:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “commanded.”

[36:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “mouth.”

[36:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the word that.”

[36:6]  ⁸ tn The idiom again is “let them be for wives for….”

[36:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “to the one who is good in their eyes.”

[36:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turned aside.”

[36:8]  ¹¹ tn The subject is “Israelites” and the verb is plural to agree with it, but the idea is collective as the word for “man” indicates: “so that the Israelites may possess – [each] man the inheritance of his fathers.”