1The heads of the families of the children of Gilead came forward. Gilead was the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph. They spoke before Moses and before the princes, the heads of the families of the children of Israel.
2They said, "The LORD commanded my lord to give the land to the children of Israel as their inheritance, by lot. And my lord was commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters."
3"But if they marry 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. It will be added to the inheritance of the tribe they join. So it will be taken from the share we received."
4"And when the jubilee of the children of Israel comes, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe they join. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers."
5Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, as the LORD told him. He said, "The tribe of the sons of Joseph has spoken rightly."
6"This is what the LORD commands about the daughters of Zelophehad. He says, 'Let them marry whoever they think best. Only they must marry within the family of their father's tribe."
7"'So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not move from tribe to tribe. Every one of the children of Israel shall keep to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers."
8"'And every daughter who holds an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall become the wife of a man from the family of her father's tribe. Then the children of Israel will each keep the inheritance of his fathers."
9"'The inheritance shall not move from one tribe to another tribe. Every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep to its own inheritance.'"
10The daughters of Zelophehad did just as the LORD commanded Moses.
11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married the sons of their father's brothers.
12They married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance stayed in the tribe of their father's family.
13These are the commandments and the laws which the LORD gave to the children of Israel through Moses. He gave them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan near Jericho.