And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.
And if they marry men from other tribes of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from our family's inheritance and be given to the tribe they marry into. This way, our inheritance will be reduced.
The writer is expressing concern that if women inherit land and then marry outside their tribe, the family's land inheritance will be permanently lost to another tribe.
📚 Historical Context
In the book of Numbers, the Israelites were preparing to divide the Promised Land among the twelve tribes as instructed by God through Moses. The daughters of Zelophehad had been granted inheritance rights in their father's tribe, Manasseh, but tribal leaders were concerned that if these women married men from other tribes, their land would transfer to those tribes, potentially altering the divinely assigned boundaries. This verse addresses the need to protect these allotments to ensure the integrity of God's plan for the land distribution.
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