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Numbers 27:1–11, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Numbers 27:1–11
Zelophehad's Five Daughters Change Inheritance Law
Five daughters bring a missing name into the assembly
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, of the families of Manasseh, come near. They stand before Moses, Eleazar, the princes, and all the congregation at the door of the tent. Their father died in the wilderness; he was not in Korah's company, but died in his own sin, and had no sons. Why should his name be done away from his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brethren.
The LORD calls their claim right, then writes daughters into a still-male order
Moses brings their cause before the LORD. The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Moses is to give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and to cause their father's inheritance to pass to them.
The statute then generalizes: if a man dies without a son, the inheritance passes to his daughter; if no daughter, to his brothers; if no brothers, to his father's brothers; then to the nearest kinsman in his family. That is a real legal gain. Women who would have vanished from the land roll now stand in the sequence. Sons still come first. Uncles and kinsmen still surround the daughter. Chapter 36 will later fence whom inheriting daughters may marry so the land stays in the father's tribe. The gain and the patriarchal limit both belong to the teaching; neither should be hidden.
How this should shape us
Hear the people an inheritance system would erase, and change the rule when their claim is just. Do not call this full equality, and do not use a remaining male sequence to deny daughters equal rights where present law already grants them. Keep chapter 36 in view as the later fence, not as a reason to unhear these five.
Teach it back
Explain Numbers 27:1–11 in your own words. Include its place in Numbers' movement from Sinai to Moab, both movements within this thought unit, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters debate historical geography, boundary idealization, settlement, source layers, women's property status, tribal memory, asylum development, and relationship to Joshua and Deuteronomy. The law's patrilineal gains and limits must both remain visible. For “Zelophehad's Five Daughters Change Inheritance Law,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Numbers 27:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 27:1–11
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 27:1–11
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 27:1–11
Supports: Women's successful legal petition, inheritance development, closing marriage restriction, agency, and patriarchal limits.
TheTorah, “Zelophehad's Daughters Challenge the Law—and Moses Is Speechless,” complete Numbers 27 and 36 discussion of petition, divine ruling, inheritance, tribal restriction, women, and later reception, applied to Numbers 27:1–11
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 27:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 27:1–11
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Numbers with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, source files dated 2026-08-08
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 27:1–11
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 2
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 27:1–11
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open gender law and reception study
Zelophehad's Daughters Challenge the Law and Moses Is Speechless
Nehama Aschkenasy
TheTorah.com, 2024
Supports: Women's successful legal petition, inheritance development, closing marriage restriction, agency, and patriarchal limits.
Exact location: TheTorah, “Zelophehad's Daughters Challenge the Law—and Moses Is Speechless,” complete Numbers 27 and 36 discussion of petition, divine ruling, inheritance, tribal restriction, women, and later reception, applied to Numbers 27:1–11
Open source ↗