“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.
Parallel Translations
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“The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. You shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brothers. You shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them.
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The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
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'The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Numbers 27:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 49:11 Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”
- Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
- Numbers 36:1-2 The heads of the fathers’ households of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses and before the princes, the heads of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel. They said, “Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel. My lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
- Joshua 17:4 They came to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the princes, saying, “Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” Therefore according to the commandment of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father.
- Psalms 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 27:7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou…
Num 27:7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
Ver. 7. And thou shalt cause the inheritance.] Let the French defend their Salic law as they can. It was a witty essay of him who styled women the second edition of the epitome of the whole world; witness Artemisia, Zenobia, Blandina, the Lady Jane Gray (whose excellent beauty, adorned with all variety of virtues, as a clear sky with stars, as a princely diadem with jewels, gave her the style of Eruditionis, pietatis, et modestiae delicium), and Queen Elizabeth, in whom, besides her sex, there was nothing womanlike or weak: as if (what philosophy saith) the souls of those noble creatures had followed the temperament of their bodies, which consist of a frame of rarer rooms, of a more exact composition than man’s cloth; and, if place be any privilege, we find theirs built in paradise, when man’s was made out of it. Besides, "in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female," but all are one, souls having no sexes, and whosoever are "Christ’s, are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." {Gal 3:28-29}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Give them: in Hebrew it is of the masculine…
Give them: in Hebrew it is of the masculine gender, to show that women in this case should enjoy the man’s privilege, and that the heavenly Canaan, whereof this was a type, did belong no less to women than to men, Gal 3:28.
The inheritance of their fathers, i.e. which belonged to their fathers in case they had lived.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,....…
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,.... The above affair occasioned a law to be made, in which all the people would have a concern, among whom such cases should happen, as after related:
saying, if a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter; as in the above case of the daughters of Zelophehad; what was determined as to their particular case was made into a general law.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Thou shalt surely give them-an inheritance among…
Verse 7. Thou shalt surely give them-an inheritance among their father's brethren] There is a curious anomaly here in the Hebrew text which cannot be seen in our translation. In Hebrew they, them, and their, you, ye, and your, are both of the masculine and feminine genders, according as the nouns are to which they are affixed; but these words are of no gender in English. In this verse, speaking of the brethren of the father of those women, the masculine termination הם hem, THEIR, is used instead of the feminine, הן hen, governed by בנות benoth, daughters. So להם lahem, to THEM, and אביהם abihem, THEIR fathers, masculine, are found in the present text, instead of להן lahen and אביהן abihen, feminine. Interpreters have sought for a hidden meaning here, and they have found several, whether hidden here or not. One says, "the masculine gender is used because these daughters are treated as if they were heirs male." Another, "that it is because of their faith and conscientious regard to the ancient customs, and to keep the memory of their father in being, which might well benefit men." Another, "that it signifies the free gift of God in Christ, where there is neither male nor female, bond or free, for all are one in Christ;" and so on, for where there is no rule there is no end to conjecture. Now the plain truth is, that the masculine is in the present printed text a mistake for the feminine. The Samaritan, which many think by far the most authentic copy of the Pentateuch, has the feminine gender in both places; so also have upwards of fourscore of the MSS. collated by Kennicott and De Rossi. Therefore all the curious reasons for this anomaly offered by interpreters are only serious trifling on the blunder of some heedless copyists.
While on the subject of mysterious reasons and meanings, some might think it unpardonable if I passed by the mystery of the fall, recovery, and full salvation of man, signified, as some will have it, by the names of Zelophehad and his daughters.
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"1. Zelophehad's daughters, claiming a portion in the promised land, may represent believers in Christ claiming an inheritance among the saints in light.
2. These five virgins may be considered as the five wise virgins, (Mt 25:1-10), who took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and consequently are types of those who make a wise provision for their eternal state.
3. They are examples of encouragement to weak and destitute believers, who, though they are orphans in this world, shall not be deprived of their heavenly inheritance.
4. Their names are mysterious; for Zelophehad, צלפחד TSELOPHCHAD, signifies the shadow of fear or dread.
His first daughter, מחלה MACHLAH, infirmity;
the second, נעה NOAH, wandering;
the third, חגלה CHOGLAH, turning about or dancing for joy:
the fourth, מלכה MILCAH, a queen;
the fifth, תרצה TIRTSAH, well-pleasing or acceptable.
By these names we may observe our reviving by grace in Christ; for we are all born of the shadow of fear, (Tselophchad), being brought forth in sin, and through fear of death being all our life time subject to bondage, Heb 2:15. This begets (Machlah) infirmity or sickness - grief of heart for our estate. After which (Noah) wandering about for help and comfort we find it in Christ, by whom our sorrow is turned into joy (Choglah). He communicates of his royalty (Milcah) to us, making us kings and priests unto God and his Father, Re 1:6. So we shall at last be presented unto him glorious and without blemish, being (Tirtsah) well-pleasing and acceptable in his sight." This is a specimen of pious INGENUITY, which has been endeavouring to do the work of an EVANGELIST in the Church of God from the time of Origen to the present day.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 27:7. Cause the inheritance of their father to…
Num 27:7. Cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them — They were to enjoy what would have fallen to their father’s share, had he been alive; because they stood in his place, and represented his person. Accordingly they had their portion in the land, Jos 17:1-3, &c.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Speak right — The dictates of an unperverted…
7. Speak right — The dictates of an unperverted conscience are always in harmony with the will of Jehovah. This case illustrates the importance of the advocacy of one’s rights until they are recognised.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Thou shalt surely give them . . .…
(7) Thou shalt surely give them . . . —The pronoun them is in the masculine gender in the Hebrew. Either the reference must be to the sons of Zelophehad’s daughters, or the daughters must be regarded in the light of sons.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.