Inheritance Laws for Women
Numbers 36, verse 1. Now the rulers from the tribe of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the tribe of the sons of Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and Eleazar the priest and before the rulers of the paternal houses of the children of Israel. Numbers 36, verse 2. So they said, “The Lord commanded our lord to give the land of the inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel, and the Lord ordered our lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Numbers 36, verse 3. Now if they should marry someone from the tribes of the sons of Israel, their allotment would be taken from the possession of our fathers, and be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; so it would be taken from the portion of our inheritance. Numbers 36, verse 4. But if the Remission of the children of Israel should come, their inheritance would be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry; and their inheritance would be taken away from the inheritance of our father's tribe.” Numbers 36, verse 5. Then Moses commanded the children of Israel through the ordinance of the Lord, saying, “Thus speaks the tribe of the sons of Joseph. Numbers 36, verse 6. This is the word the Lord orders concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, ‘Let them marry whom they think best, but they may marry only within their father's tribe.’ Numbers 36, verse 7. So the inheritance for the children of Israel shall not go around from tribe to tribe, because each of the sons of Israel shall be attached to the inheritance of his father's tribe. Numbers 36, verse 8. And every daughter who enters upon an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall marry someone from her father's tribe, that each of the sons of Israel may possess his paternal inheritance. Numbers 36, verse 9. Thus no inheritance shall go around from one tribe to another, but each of the sons of Israel shall be attached to his own inheritance.” Numbers 36, verse 10. So in the manner the Lord ordered Moses, the daughters of Zelophehad did; Numbers 36, verse 11. and Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, Noah, and Mahlah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married their cousins. Numbers 36, verse 12. They were married into the tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father's family. Numbers 36, verse 13. These are the commandments, the ordinances, and the judgments the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, west of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.