Bamidbar (Numbers): Pinchas > Ch 27

Daughters of Zelophehad tell Moses that they have no brothers and will not inherit any land. Moses brings their case before G-d. G-d gives Moses the laws of inheritance transfer, allowing daughters to inherit the land.

  • The daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came forward, and his daughters' names were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the kohen and before the chieftains and the entire congregation at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, saying, "Our father died in the desert, but he was not in the assembly that banded together against the Lord in Korah's assembly, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should our father's name be eliminated from his family because he had no son? Give us a portion along with our father's brothers. "
  • So Moses brought their case before the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Zelophehad's daughters speak justly. You shall certainly give them a portion of inheritance along with their father's brothers, and you shall transfer their father's inheritance to them. Speak to the children of Israel saying:
    • If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
    • If he has no daughter, you shall give over his inheritance to his brothers.
    • If he has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to his father's brothers.
    • If his father has no brothers, you shall give over his inheritance to the kinsman closest to him in his family, who shall inherit it. This shall remain a decreed statute, as the Lord commanded Moses.


G-d tells Moses to ascends mount Abarim and look at the Promised Land before dying. Moses asks G-d to appoint a good leader over the congregation. G-d appoints Joshua, the son of Nun

  • The Lord said to Moses, "Go up to this mount Abarim and look at the land that I have given to the children of Israel. And when you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother was gathered. Because you disobeyed My command in the desert of Zin when the congregation quarreled, [when you were] to sanctify Me through the water before their eyes; these were the waters of dispute at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin.
  • Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: "Let the Lord, the God of spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go forth before them and come before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd." The Lord said to Moses, "Take for yourself Joshua the son of Nun, a man of spirit, and you shall lay your hand upon him. And you shall present him before Eleazar the kohen and before the entire congregation, and you shall command him in their presence. You shall bestow some of your majesty upon him so that all the congregation of the children of Israel will take heed. He shall stand before Eleazar the kohen and seek [counsel from] him through the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. By his word they shall go, and by his word they shall come; he and all Israel with him, and the entire congregation."
  • Moses did as the Lord had commanded him, and he took Joshua and presented him before Eleazar the kohen and before the entire congregation. He laid his hands upon him and commanded him, in accordance with what the Lord had spoken to Moses.