The heads of the fathers' houses of the family group of the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near. They spoke in front of Moses and the leaders, the heads of the fathers' houses of the people of Israel.

They said, "The Lord told my lord to give the land to the people of Israel by drawing names. And my lord was told by the Lord to give the land of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.

But if they marry one of the sons of the other family groups of Israel, then their land would be taken away from what was given to our fathers and would be added to the land of the family group they marry into. So it would be taken from the land that had been given to us.

When the Year of Jubilee of the people of Israel comes, their land will be added to the land of the family group into which they marry. So their land will be taken from the land of the family group of our fathers."

Then Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord said. He said, "The family group of the sons of Joseph are right in what they say.

This is what the Lord has said about the daughters of Zelophehad: 'Let them marry whom they think best. Only they must marry within the family group of their father.'

This way no land of the people of Israel will go from one family group to another. The people of Israel will each hold to the land of the family group of his fathers.

Every daughter who comes to own the land of any family group of Israel, must be the wife of one of her father's family group. So every one of the people of Israel may own the land of his fathers.

No land will go from one family group to another. For the families of Israel will each hold to his own land."

The daughters of Zelophehad did just as the Lord had told Moses.

Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married sons of their father's brothers.

They married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph. And their land stayed with their father's family group.

These are the Laws which the Lord told the people of Israel through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.