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Numbers 36

Numbers 36 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Numbers 36 resolves a concern about how inherited land would stay within each tribe of Israel. The leaders of Manasseh raise the issue, Moses gives the LORD's instruction, and the daughters of Zelophehad follow it. The chapter ends with their marriages and the land remaining in their father's clan.

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What happens in Numbers 36?

The heads of the clan of Gilead bring a concern to Moses and the leaders. Since Zelophehad's daughters had been given their father's inheritance, the clan worries that marriage outside their tribe could move the land to another tribe. The LORD answers through Moses by setting a rule: these daughters may marry whom they choose, but only within their father's clan. The daughters obey, marry within Manasseh, and the inheritance stays where it belongs. The chapter closes by identifying this as part of the LORD's commands given through Moses in Moab.

This chapter comes after the land boundaries and Levitical cities of Numbers 35. It finishes the book's instructions about life in the land by protecting tribal inheritances. The ruling also follows the earlier story of Zelophehad's daughters, where their right to inherit had already been established. Numbers ends with a practical application of that decision.

Themes to notice

  • InheritanceThe chapter protects the land each tribe received so it would not shift permanently to another tribe.
  • ObedienceThe daughters of Zelophehad respond to the LORD's command with trust and action.
  • Order in IsraelGod's instructions preserve fairness, stability, and the identity of each tribe.

Questions for Numbers 36

  • Why was the tribe of Manasseh concerned about these marriages?
  • What does this chapter show about inheritance and family responsibility in Israel?
  • How do the daughters of Zelophehad respond to the LORD's command?

Read the full text of Numbers 36 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Numbers 36

Zelophehad’s Daughters Marry

1Now the family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, one of the clans of Joseph, approached Moses and the leaders who were the heads of the Israelite families and addressed them,2saying, “When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, He also commanded him to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.3But if they marry any of the men from the other tribes of Israel, their inheritance will be withdrawn from the portion of our fathers and added to the tribe into which they marry. So our allotted inheritance would be taken away.4And when the Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to the tribe into which they marry and taken away from the tribe of our fathers.”

5So at the word of the LORD, Moses commanded the Israelites: “The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks correctly.6This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they please, provided they marry within a clan of the tribe of their father.7No inheritance in Israel may be transferred from tribe to tribe, because each of the Israelites is to retain the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.8Every daughter who possesses an inheritance from any Israelite tribe must marry within a clan of the tribe of her father, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers.9No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another, for each tribe of Israel must retain its inheritance.”

10So the daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses.11Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to cousins on their father’s side.12They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.

13These are the commandments and ordinances that the LORD gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

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