Numbers 27

¹ Then there approached the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph: and their names are Mahlah, and Noa, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

² And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people, at the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and they said:

³ “Our father died in the desert, and was not with the sedition, which was stirred up against the Lord under Korah, but he died in his own sin; he had no male sons. Why is his name taken away from his family, because he had no son? Give us a possession among the kinsmen of our father.”

⁴ And Moses referred their case to the judgment of the Lord.

⁵ And the Lord said to him:

⁶ “The daughters of Zelophehad are asking for something just. So give them a possession among the kinsmen of their father, and let them succeed him in his inheritance.

⁷ And to the sons of Israel, you shall speak these things:

⁸ When a man dies without a son, his inheritance shall be transferred to his daughter.

⁹ If he has no daughter, his brothers shall succeed him.

¹⁰ But if there were also no brothers, you shall give the inheritance to the brothers of his father.

¹¹ But if he has no paternal uncles, the inheritance shall be given to those who are closest to him. And this shall be, for the sons of Israel, consecrated as a perpetual law, just as the Lord has instructed Moses.”

¹² The Lord also said to Moses: “Ascend onto this mountain, Abarim, and contemplate from there the land, which I will give to the sons of Israel.

¹³ And when you have seen it, you shall then go to your people, just as your brother Aaron went.

¹⁴ For you offended me in the desert of Sin at the Contradiction of the multitude; neither were you willing to sanctify me in their sight over the waters. These are the Waters of Contradiction at Kadesh in the desert of Sin.”

¹⁵ Moses answered him:

¹⁶ “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, provide a man, who may be over this multitude,

¹⁷ and who may be able to exit and enter before them, and who may lead them out or lead them in: lest the people of the Lord be like sheep without a shepherd.”

¹⁸ And the Lord said to him: “Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom the Spirit is, and place your hand upon him.

¹⁹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire multitude.

²⁰ And you shall give him the precepts in the sight of all, and a portion of your glory, so that the entire congregation of the sons of Israel may listen to him.

²¹ On his behalf, if anything is to be done, Eleazar the priest shall consult the Lord. He, and all the sons of Israel with him, and the rest of the multitude, shall go out and enter in at his word.”

²² Moses did just as the Lord had instructed. And when he had brought Joshua, he set him before Eleazar the priest, and before the entire gathering of the people.

²³ And imposing his hands upon his head, he repeated all that the Lord had commanded.