Mattot-Masei

³ If a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath imposing an obligation on himself, he shall not break his pledge; he must carry out all that has crossed his lips.

⁴ If a woman makes a vow to the Lord or assumes an obligation while still in her father’s household by reason of her youth, ⁵ and her father learns of her vow or her self-imposed obligation and offers no objection, all her vows shall stand and every self-imposed obligation shall stand. ⁶ But if her father restrains her on the day he finds out, none of her vows or self-imposed obligations shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her, since her father restrained her.

⁷ If she should marry while her vow or the commitment to which she bound herself is still in force, ⁸ and her husband learns of it and offers no objection on the day he finds out, her vows shall stand and her self-imposed obligations shall stand. ⁹ But if her husband restrains her on the day that he learns of it, he thereby annuls her vow which was in force or the commitment to which she bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her. ¹⁰ — The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, however, whatever she has imposed on herself, shall be binding upon her. — ¹¹ So, too, if, while in her husband’s household, she makes a vow or imposes an obligation on herself by oath, ¹² and her husband learns of it, yet offers no objection — thus failing to restrain her — all her vows shall stand and all her self-imposed obligations shall stand. ¹³ But if her husband does annul them on the day he finds out, then nothing that has crossed her lips shall stand, whether vows or self-imposed obligations. Her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her. ¹⁴ Every vow and every sworn obligation of self-denial may be upheld by her husband or annulled by her husband. ¹⁵ If her husband offers no objection from that day to the next, he has upheld all the vows or obligations she has assumed: he has upheld them by offering no objection on the day he found out. ¹⁶ But if he annuls them after [the day] he finds out, he shall bear her guilt.

¹⁷ Those are the laws that the Lord enjoined upon Moses between a man and his wife, and as between a father and his daughter while in her father’s household by reason of her youth.

Chapter 31
¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.”

³ Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Let men be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall dispatch on the campaign a thousand from every one of the tribes of Israel.”

⁵ So a thousand from each tribe were furnished from the divisions of Israel, twelve thousand picked for the campaign. ⁶ Moses dispatched them on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar serving as a priest on the campaign, equipped with the sacred utensils and the trumpets for sounding the blasts. ⁷ They took the field against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and slew every male. ⁸ Along with their other victims, they slew the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword.

⁹ The Israelites took the women and children of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. ¹⁰ And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled, and their encampments. ¹¹ They gathered all the spoil and all the booty, man and beast, ¹² and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the whole Israelite community, at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.

¹³ Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the chieftains of the community came out to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “You have spared every female! ¹⁶ Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, induced the Israelites to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the Lord’s community was struck by the plague. ¹⁷ Now, therefore, slay every male among the children, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; ¹⁸ but spare every young woman who has not had carnal relations with a man.

¹⁹ “You shall then stay outside the camp seven days; every one among you or among your captives who has slain a person or touched a corpse shall cleanse himself on the third and seventh days. ²⁰ You shall also cleanse every cloth, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every object of wood.”

²¹ Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had taken part in the fighting, “This is the ritual law that the Lord has enjoined upon Moses: ^{22 Gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead 23} — any article that can withstand fire — these you shall pass through fire and they shall be clean, except that they must be cleansed with water of lustration; and anything that cannot withstand fire you must pass through water. ²⁴ On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes and be clean, and after that you may enter the camp.”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses: 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community take an inventory of the booty that was captured, man and beast, ²⁷ and divide the booty equally between the combatants who engaged in the campaign and the rest of the community. ²⁸ You shall exact a levy for the Lord: in the case of the warriors who engaged in the campaign, one item in five hundred, of persons, oxen, asses, and sheep, ²⁹ shall be taken from their half-share and given to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord;³⁰ and from the half-share of the other Israelites you shall withhold one in every fifty human beings as well as cattle, asses, and sheep — all the animals — and give them to the Levites, who attend to the duties of the Lord’s Tabernacle.”

³¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. ³² The amount of booty, other than the spoil that the troops had plundered, came to 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 head of cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 asses, ³⁵ and a total of 32,000 human beings, namely, the women who had not had carnal relations.

³⁶ Thus, the half-share of those who had engaged in the campaign [was as follows]: The number of sheep was 337,500, ³⁷ and the Lord’s levy from the sheep was 675; ³⁸ the cattle came to 36,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 72; ³⁹ the asses came to 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61. ⁴⁰ And the number of human beings was 16,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 32. ⁴¹ Moses gave the contributions levied for the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴² As for the half-share of the other Israelites, which Moses withdrew from the men who had taken the field, ⁴³ that half-share of the community consisted of 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 head of cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 asses, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 human beings. ⁴⁷ From this half-share of the Israelites, Moses withheld one in every fifty humans and animals; and he gave them to the Levites, who attended to the duties of the Lord’s Tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ The commanders of the troop divisions, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, approached Moses. 49 They said to Moses, “Your servants have made a check of the warriors in our charge, and not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have brought as an offering to the Lord such articles of gold as each of us came upon: armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants, that expiation may be made for our persons before the Lord.” ⁵¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. ⁵² All the gold that was offered by the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds as a contribution to the Lord came to 16,750 shekels. ⁵³ — But in the ranks, everyone kept his booty for himself. — ⁵⁴ So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, as a reminder in behalf of the Israelites before the Lord.

Chapter 32
¹ The Reubenites and the Gadites owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle, ² the Gadites and the Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the chieftains of the community, and said, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon — ⁴ the land that the Lord has conquered for the community of Israel is cattle country, and your servants have cattle. ⁵ It would be a favor to us,” they continued, “if this land were given to your servants as a holding; do not move us across the Jordan.”

⁶ Moses replied to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here? ⁷ Why will you turn the minds of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the Lord has given them? ⁸ That is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to survey the land. ⁹ After going up to the wadi Eshcol and surveying the land, they turned the minds of the Israelites from invading the land that the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ Thereupon the Lord was incensed and He swore, 11 ‘None of the men from twenty years up who came out of Egypt shall see the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they did not remain loyal to Me — ¹² none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they remained loyal to the Lord.’ ¹³The Lord was incensed at Israel, and for forty years He made them wander in the wilderness, until the whole generation that had provoked the Lord’s displeasure was gone. ¹⁴ And now you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to the Lord’s wrath against Israel. ¹⁵ If you turn away from Him and He abandons them once more in the wilderness, you will bring calamity upon all this people.”

¹⁶ Then they stepped up to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns for our children. ¹⁷ And we will hasten as shock-troops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our children stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸ We will not return to our homes until every one of the Israelites is in possession of his portion. ¹⁹ But we will not have a share with them in the territory beyond the Jordan, for we have received our share on the east side of the Jordan.”

²⁰ Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you go to battle as shock-troops, at the instance of the Lord, ²¹ and every shock-fighter among you crosses the Jordan, at the instance of the Lord, until He has dispossessed His enemies before Him, ²² and the land has been subdued, at the instance of the Lord, and then you return — you shall be clear before the Lord and before Israel; and this land shall be your holding under the Lord. ²³ But if you do not do so, you will have sinned against the Lord; and know that your sin will overtake you. ²⁴ Build towns for your children and sheepfolds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

²⁵ The Gadites and the Reubenites answered Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶ Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our other livestock will stay behind in the towns of Gilead; ²⁷ while your servants, all those recruited for war, cross over, at the instance of the Lord, to engage in battle — as my lord orders.”

²⁸ Then Moses gave instructions concerning them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes. ²⁹ Moses said to them, “If every shock-fighter among the Gadites and the Reubenites crosses the Jordan with you to do battle, at the instance of the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, you shall give them the land of Gilead as a holding. ³⁰ But if they do not cross over with you as shock-troops, they shall receive holdings among you in the land of Canaan.”

³¹ The Gadites and the Reubenites said in reply, “Whatever the Lord has spoken concerning your servants, that we will do. ³² We ourselves will cross over as shock-troops, at the instance of the Lord, into the land of Canaan; and we shall keep our hereditary holding across the Jordan.”

³³ So Moses assigned to them — to the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph — the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land with its various cities and the territories of their surrounding towns. ³⁴ The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶ Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified towns or as enclosures for flocks. ³⁷ The Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸ Nebo, Baal-meon — some names being changed — and Sibmah; they gave [their own] names to towns that they rebuilt. ³⁹ The descendants of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, dispossessing the Amorites who were there; ⁴⁰ so Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled there. ⁴¹ Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, which he renamed Havvoth-jair. ⁴² And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its dependencies, renaming it Nobah after himself.

Chapter 33

¹ These were the marches of the Israelites who started out from the land of Egypt, troop by troop, in the charge of Moses and Aaron. ² Moses recorded the starting points of their various marches as directed by the Lord. Their marches, by starting points, were as follows:

³ They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. It was on the morrow of the passover offering that the Israelites started out defiantly, in plain view of all the Egyptians. ⁴ The Egyptians meanwhile were burying those among them whom the Lord had struck down, every first-born — whereby the Lord executed judgment on their gods.

⁵ The Israelites set out from Rameses and encamped at Succoth. ⁶ They set out from Succoth and encamped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. ⁷ They set out from Etham and turned about toward Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon, and they encamped before Migdol. ⁸ They set out from Pene-hahiroth and passed through the sea into the wilderness; and they made a three-days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham and encamped at Marah. ⁹ They set out from Marah and came to Elim. There were twelve springs in Elim and seventy palm trees, so they encamped there. ¹⁰ They set out from Elim and encamped by the Sea of Reeds. ¹¹ They set out from the Sea of Reeds and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. ¹² They set out from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Dophkah. ¹³ They set out from Dophkah and encamped at Alush. ¹⁴ They set out from Alush and encamped at Rephidim; it was there that the people had no water to drink. ¹⁵ They set out from Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶ They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Kibroth-hattaavah. ¹⁷ They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and encamped at Hazeroth. ¹⁸ They set out from Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah. ¹⁹ They set out from Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez. ²⁰ They set out from Rimmon-perez and encamped at Libnah. ²¹ They set out from Libnah and encamped at Rissah. ²² They set out from Rissah and encamped at Kehelath. ²³ They set out from Kehelath and encamped at Mount Shepher. ²⁴ They set out from Mount Shepher and encamped at Haradah. ²⁵They set out from Haradah and encamped at Makheloth. 26 They set out from Makheloth and encamped at Tahath. ²⁷ They set out from Tahath and encamped at Terah. ²⁸ They set out from Terah and encamped at Mithkah. ²⁹ They set out from Mithkah and encamped at Hashmonah. ³⁰ They set out from Hashmonah and encamped at Moseroth. ³¹ They set out from Moseroth and encamped at Bene-jaakan. ³² They set out from Bene-jaakan and encamped at Hor-haggidgad. ³³ They set out from Hor-haggidgad and encamped at Jotbath. ³⁴ They set out from Jotbath and encamped at Abronah. ³⁵ They set out from Abronah and encamped at Ezion-geber. ³⁶ They set out from Ezion-geber and encamped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh. ³⁷ They set out from Kadesh and encamped at Mount Hor, on the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸ Aaron the priest ascended Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there, in the fortieth year after the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month. ³⁹ Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor. ⁴⁰And the Canaanite, king of Arad, who dwelt in the Negeb, in the land of Canaan, learned of the coming of the Israelites.

⁴¹ They set out from Mount Hor and encamped at Zalmonah. ⁴² They set out from Zalmonah and encamped at Punon. ⁴³ They set out from Punon and encamped at Oboth. ⁴⁴ They set out from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim, in the territory of Moab. ⁴⁵ They set out from Iyim and encamped at Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶ They set out from Dibon-gad and encamped at Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷ They set out from Almon-diblathaim and encamped in the hills of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸ They set out from the hills of Abarim and encamped in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho; ⁴⁹ they encamped by the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim, in the steppes of Moab.

⁵⁰ In the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho, the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁵¹ Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² you shall dispossess all the inhabitants of the land; you shall destroy all their figured objects; you shall destroy all their molten images, and you shall demolish all their cult places. ⁵³ And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have assigned the land to you to possess. ⁵⁴ You shall apportion the land among yourselves by lot, clan by clan: with larger groups increase the share, with smaller groups reduce the share. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. You shall have your portions according to your ancestral tribes. ⁵⁵ But if you do not dispossess the inhabitants of the land, those whom you allow to remain shall be stings in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land in which you live; ⁵⁶ so that I will do to you what I planned to do to them.

Chapter 34
¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Instruct the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as your portion, the land of Canaan with its various boundaries:

³ Your southern sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom. Your southern boundary shall start on the east from the tip of the Dead Sea. ⁴ Your boundary shall then turn to pass south of the ascent of Akrabbim and continue to Zin, and its limits shall be south of Kadesh-barnea, reaching Hazar-addar and continuing to Azmon. ⁵ From Azmon the boundary shall turn toward the Wadi of Egypt and terminate at the Sea.

⁶ For the western boundary you shall have the coast of the Great Sea; that shall serve as your western boundary.

⁷ This shall be your northern boundary: Draw a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor; ⁸ from Mount Hor draw a line to Lebo-hamath, and let the boundary reach Zedad. 9 The boundary shall then run to Ziphron and terminate at Hazar-enan. That shall be your northern boundary.

¹⁰ For your eastern boundary you shall draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹ From Shepham the boundary shall descend to Riblah on the east side of Ain; from there the boundary shall continue downward and abut on the eastern slopes of the Sea of Chinnereth.¹² The boundary shall then descend along the Jordan and terminate at the Dead Sea.

That shall be your land as defined by its boundaries on all sides.

¹³ Moses instructed the Israelites, saying: This is the land you are to receive by lot as your hereditary portion, which the Lord has commanded to be given to the nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴ For the Reubenite tribe by its ancestral houses, the Gadite tribe by its ancestral houses, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their portions: ¹⁵ those two and a half tribes have received their portions across the Jordan, opposite Jericho, on the east, the orient side.

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁷ These are the names of the men through whom the land shall be apportioned for you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun. ¹⁸ And you shall also take a chieftain from each tribe through whom the land shall be apportioned.¹⁹ These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh. ²⁰ From the Simeonite tribe: Samuel son of Ammihud. ²¹ From the tribe of Benjamin: Elidad son of Chislon. ²² From the Danite tribe: a chieftain, Bukki son of Jogli. ²³ For the descendants of Joseph: from the Manassite tribe: a chieftain, Hanniel son of Ephod; ²⁴ and from the Ephraimite tribe: a chieftain, Kemuel son of Shiphtan. ²⁵ From the Zebulunite tribe: a chieftain, Elizaphan son of Parnach. ²⁶ From the Issacharite tribe: a chieftain, Paltiel son of Azzan. ²⁷ From the Asherite tribe: a chieftain, Ahihud son of Shelomi. ²⁸ From the Naphtalite tribe: a chieftain, Pedahel son of Ammihud.

²⁹ It was these whom the Lord designated to allot portions to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.

Chapter 35
¹ The Lord spoke to Moses in the steppes of Moab at the Jordan near Jericho, saying: ² Instruct the Israelite people to assign, out of the holdings apportioned to them, towns for the Levites to dwell in; you shall also assign to the Levites pasture land around their towns.³ The towns shall be theirs to dwell in, and the pasture shall be for the cattle they own and all their other beasts. ⁴ The town pasture that you are to assign to the Levites shall extend a thousand cubits outside the town wall all around. ⁵ You shall measure off two thousand cubits outside the town on the east side, two thousand on the south side, two thousand on the west side, and two thousand on the north side, with the town in the center. That shall be the pasture for their towns.

⁶ The towns that you assign to the Levites shall comprise the six cities of refuge that you are to designate for a manslayer to flee to, to which you shall add forty-two towns. ⁷ Thus the total of the towns that you assign to the Levites shall be forty-eight towns, with their pasture. ⁸ In assigning towns from the holdings of the Israelites, take more from the larger groups and less from the smaller, so that each assigns towns to the Levites in proportion to the share it receives.

⁹ The Lord spoke further to Moses: ¹⁰ Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹ you shall provide yourselves with places to serve you as cities of refuge to which a manslayer who has killed a person unintentionally may flee. ¹² The cities shall serve you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer may not die unless he has stood trial before the assembly.

¹³ The towns that you thus assign shall be six cities of refuge in all. ¹⁴ Three cities shall be designated beyond the Jordan, and the other three shall be designated in the land of Canaan: they shall serve as cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six cities shall serve the Israelites and the resident aliens among them for refuge, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

¹⁶ Anyone, however, who strikes another with an iron object so that death results is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁷ If he struck him with a stone tool that could cause death, and death resulted, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁸Similarly, if the object with which he struck him was a wooden tool that could cause death, and death resulted, he is a murderer; the murderer must be put to death. ¹⁹ The blood-avenger himself shall put the murderer to death; it is he who shall put him to death upon encounter. ²⁰ So, too, if he pushed him in hate or hurled something at him on purpose and death resulted, ²¹ or if he struck him with his hand in enmity and death resulted, the assailant shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood-avenger shall put the murderer to death upon encounter.

²² But if he pushed him without malice aforethought or hurled any object at him unintentionally, ²³ or inadvertently dropped upon him any deadly object of stone, and death resulted — though he was not an enemy of his and did not seek his harm — ²⁴ in such cases the assembly shall decide between the slayer and the blood-avenger. ²⁵ The assembly shall protect the manslayer from the blood-avenger, and the assembly shall restore him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and there he shall remain until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the sacred oil. ²⁶ But if the manslayer ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled, ²⁷ and the blood-avenger comes upon him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the blood-avenger kills the manslayer, there is no bloodguilt on his account. ²⁸ For he must remain inside his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to his land holding.

²⁹ Such shall be your law of procedure throughout the ages in all your settlements.

³⁰ If anyone kills a person, the manslayer may be executed only on the evidence of witnesses; the testimony of a single witness against a person shall not suffice for a sentence of death. ³¹ You may not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of a capital crime; he must be put to death. ³² Nor may you accept ransom in lieu of flight to a city of refuge, enabling one to return to live on his land before the death of the priest. ³³ You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴ You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide, for I the Lord abide among the Israelite people.

Chapter 36
¹ The family heads in the clan of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the Josephite clans, came forward and appealed to Moses and the chieftains, family heads of the Israelites. ² They said, “The Lord commanded my lord to assign the land to the Israelites as shares by lot, and my lord was further commanded by the Lord to assign the share of our kinsman Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ Now, if they marry persons from another Israelite tribe, their share will be cut off from our ancestral portion and be added to the portion of the tribe into which they marry; thus our allotted portion will be diminished. ⁴ And even when the Israelites observe the jubilee, their share will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their share will be cut off from the ancestral portion of our tribe.”

⁵ So Moses, at the Lord’s bidding, instructed the Israelites, saying: “The plea of the Josephite tribe is just. ⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they wish, provided they marry into a clan of their father’s tribe. ⁷ No inheritance of the Israelites may pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelites must remain bound each to the ancestral portion of his tribe. ⁸ Every daughter among the Israelite tribes who inherits a share must marry someone from a clan of her father’s tribe, in order that every Israelite may keep his ancestral share. ⁹ Thus no inheritance shall pass over from one tribe to another, but the Israelite tribes shall remain bound each to its portion.”

¹⁰ The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord had commanded Moses: ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, Zelophehad’s daughters, were married to sons of their uncles, ¹² marrying into clans of descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph; and so their share remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.

¹³ These are the commandments and regulations that the Lord enjoined upon the Israelites, through Moses, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.