Bible Strands
Numbers 36:9
No inheritance may be transferred from one tribe to another, for each tribe of Israel must retain its inheritance.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses relays a divine command to the Israelite tribes during the wilderness period, addressing the broader community after establishing rules for heiresses in Numbers 36:8.
The words — The text hinges on נַחֲלָה (na.cha.Lah), meaning an inheritance, and תִסֹּ֧ב (ti.So), literally "it will go about" or shift. These terms frame the prohibition against land moving between tribal boundaries.
The thread — Numbers 36:9 states that tribal inheritances cannot pass from one tribe to another because each tribe must keep its own allotment. This rule extends the marriage restriction in verse 8 and reinforces the fixed nature of the land divisions established earlier in the book.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to accept that tribal land boundaries are legally and divinely fixed, mandating immediate compliance with inheritance and marriage regulations to preserve each tribe's original allotment.
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
Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.