And now a plea was brought to Moses, before all the rulers of Israel, by the chiefs of the clan descended from Galaad, son of Machir, son of Manasses, that came of Joseph’s stock.

Thou art our master, they said, and the Lord has commanded thee, in dividing the land between the sons of Israel, to give a portion to the daughters of Salphaad, the portion which should have gone to their father.

If these marry into another tribe, their land will go with them, and it will be lost to our tribe, transferred to the possession of another.

The fiftieth year, the year of jubilee, will come round, but still the division of holdings will remain disturbed, and the land belonging to one tribe will be held by another.

And Moses, at the Lord’s bidding, made this declaration to the Israelites, The sons of Joseph are in the right,

and this is the ruling which the Lord gives concerning the daughters of Salphaad, Let them marry whom they will, so long as it is within their own tribe.

The portions assigned to the sons of Israel must not pass from tribe to tribe; all men must take wives from their own tribe and clan,

and all women must marry within their own tribes, so that property may remain within the clan.

The tribes must not intermingle, but remain separate

according to the Lord’s plan for them. So the daughters of Salphaad carried out the Lord’s bidding,

and all of them, Maala, Thersa, Hegla, Melcha and Noa married their own cousins,

men sprung from Manasses, that was son of Joseph. So the portion granted to them remained within their father’s tribe and clan.

Such were the decrees and awards which the Lord delivered to the Israelites through Moses on the eastern bank of Jordan opposite Jericho.