The leaders of Gilead raise a concern about the daughters of Zelophehad marrying outside their tribe and moving their land. God rules that they marry within their own tribe so each tribe keeps its inheritance.
1 And 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 near , and spake before Moses , and before the princes , the chief fathers of the children of Israel :
2 And they said , The LORD commanded my lord to give the land for 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 unto his daughters .
3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel , then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers , and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance .
4 And when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers .
5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the LORD , saying , The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.
6 This is the thing which the LORD doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad , saying , Let them marry to whom they think best ; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry .
7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe : for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers .
8 And every daughter , that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel , shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father , that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers .
9 Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe ; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance .
10 Even as the LORD commanded Moses , so did the daughters of Zelophehad :
11 For Mahlah , Tirzah , and Hoglah , and Milcah , and Noah , the daughters of Zelophehad , were married unto their father's brothers' sons :
12 And they were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph , and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father .
13 These are the commandments and the judgments , which the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho .