Numbers 36:1-9

1The leaders of the families in Gilead's clan went to Moses and to the other leaders of the Israelites' clans. (Gilead was the descendant of Makir, who was the descendant of Manasseh. Manasseh was Joseph's son.)

2They said, ‘The Lord told you, sir, that you should decide which parts of the land to give to each Israelite family. You used special stones to do that. The Lord told you to give Zelophehad's land to his daughters. Zelophehad was in our clan.

3But if his daughters marry, the land will then belong to their husbands. If they marry men from other tribes, the land will no longer belong to us, the tribe of Manasseh.

4Even when the Jubilee year comes, the land will not return to our tribe. It will belong to the tribes of the men that Zelophehad's daughters have married.’

5The Lord gave Moses his answer. So Moses gave this command to the Israelites: ‘What Joseph's descendants are saying is right.

6This is what the Lord has commanded about the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry men that they want to marry. But they must marry men from the clans of their father's tribe.

7If they do that, each tribe will keep the land that has been given to their ancestors. None of their land will go to another tribe.

8Any young woman who receives land when her father dies must marry a man from her father's tribe. All the Israelite tribes must obey that rule. Then every Israelite person will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors.

9No land that belongs to any tribe will become the land of another tribe. So each tribe will keep the land that their ancestors had.’