Bible Strands
Numbers 36:6
This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: They may marry anyone they please, provided they marry within a clan of the tribe of their father.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite assembly at God’s command, resolving the inheritance dispute raised by the tribe of Joseph regarding Zelophehad’s daughters.
The words — צִוָּ֣ה (tzi.Vah) translates literally as “he has commanded,” anchoring the directive in divine authority rather than human tradition.
The thread — This regulation operates alongside the prohibition against tribal inheritance transfer in Numbers 36:7, the historical fulfillment in Numbers 36:12, and the broader biblical pattern of covenantal boundary preservation seen in Genesis 24:3 and 2 Corinthians 6:14.
Why it lands — The text demands that marriage choices be constrained by tribal lineage to prevent the permanent loss of ancestral land, requiring readers to recognize how communal identity and property rights are legally bound in this narrative.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
This is the thing which the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.
Cross-references
- Numbers 36:12 They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.
- 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
- Genesis 24:3 and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,
- Genesis 24:57 So they said, “We will call the girl and ask her opinion.”