Numbers 36
The leaders of the families of Gilead, descendants of Joseph, approached Moses with a concern that if the daughters of Zelophehad married men from other tribes, their inheritance would be transferred, reducing the Gileadites' portion. Moses, instructed by the Lord, ruled that the daughters could marry anyone they chose, but only within their own tribe, to prevent the commingling of possessions and tribes. The daughters of Zelophehad obeyed and married their paternal uncle's sons, keeping their inheritance within their tribe. This ruling was part of the commandments and judgments given by the Lord to the Israelites through Moses.
Then the leaders of the families of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the stock of the sons of Joseph, approached and spoke to Moses before the leaders of Israel, and they said"The Lord has instructed you, our ruler, so that you would divide the land by lot to the sons of Israel, and so that you would give to the daughters of Zelophehad, our brother, the possession owed to their fatherBut if men of another tribe receive them as wives, their possession will follow them, and having been transferred to another tribe, there will be a reduction in our inheritanceAnd so it may be that, when the Jubilee of remission, that is, the fiftieth year, has arrived, the distribution by lots shall be confounded, and the possession of the one shall be transferred to others.Moses answered the sons of Israel, and, at the instruction of the Lord, he said: "The tribe of the sons of Joseph has spoken correctlyAnd so, this is the law which has been promulgated by the Lord about the daughters of Zelophehad: Let them marry whomever they may wish, but only among the men of their own tribelest the possession of the sons of Israel become commingled, from tribe to tribe. For all men shall take wives from their own tribe and kinshipand all women shall take husbands from their same tribe, so that the inheritance may remain within the familiesand so that the tribes may not be mingled together, but may remain such as they were separated by the Lord.And the daughters of Zelophehad acted according to what was orderedAnd Mahlah, and Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noa were wed to the sons of their paternal unclefrom the family of Manasseh, who was a son of Joseph. And the possession which had been distributed to them remained in the tribe and family of their fatherThese are the commandments and judgments which the Lord ordered by the hand of Moses to the sons of Israel, in the plains of Moab, above the Jordan, opposite Jericho
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