Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Numbers 27:4

Why is the name of our father to be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give us a heritage among our father's brothers.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Daughter;   Israel;   Land;   Legislation;   Mahlah;   Milcah;   Noah;   Orphan;   Petition;   Property;   Tirzah;   Women;   Zelophehad;   Thompson Chain Reference - Woman;   Women;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Children;   Desert, Journey of Israel through the;   Fatherless;   Manasseh, the Tribe of;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Children;   Zelophehad;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Inheritance;   Name;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Woman;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Mahlah;   Zelophehad;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Mahlah;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Ancestors;   Inheritance;   Mahlah;   Milcah;   Noah;   Zelophehad;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Inheritance;   Marriage;   Numbers, Book of;   Zelophehad;   Zin;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Zelophehad ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Mah'lah;   Zelo'phehad;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Government of the Hebrews;   Testament;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Canaan;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Genealogy;   Heir;   Hoglah;   Woman;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Blessing of Children;   Family and Family Life;   Manasseh;   Priestly Code;   Zelophehad;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.
King James Version
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
Lexham English Bible
Why should the name of our father disappear from the midst of his clan because he does not have a son? Give us property in the midst of the brothers of our father."
English Standard Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers."
New Century Version
Our father's name will die out because he had no sons. Give us property among our father's relatives."
New English Translation
Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father."
Amplified Bible
"Why should the name of our father be removed from his family because he had no son? Give to us a possession (land) among our father's brothers."
New American Standard Bible
"Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family simply because he had no son? Give us property among our father's brothers."
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wherefore should the name of our father be taken away from among his familie, because he hath no sonne? giue vs a possession among the brethren of our father.
Legacy Standard Bible
Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers."
Contemporary English Version
to carry on his family name. But why should his name die out for that reason? Give us some land like the rest of his relatives in our clan, so our father's name can live on.
Complete Jewish Bible
Why should the name of our father be eliminated from his family just because he didn't have a son? Give us property to possess along with the brothers of our father."
Darby Translation
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family, because he has no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.
Easy-to-Read Version
This means that our father's name will not continue. It is not fair that our father's name will not continue. His name will end because he had no sons. So we ask you to give us some of the land that our father's brothers will get."
George Lamsa Translation
Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give to us therefore a possession among the brothers of our father.
Good News Translation
Just because he had no sons, why should our father's name disappear from Israel? Give us property among our father's relatives."
Christian Standard Bible®
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan? Since he had no son, give us property among our father’s brothers.”
Literal Translation
Why is our father's name taken away from the midst of his family because there is no son to him? Give us an inheritance among our father's brothers.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wherfore shulde or fathers name perishe then amonge his kynred, though he haue no sonne? Geue vs a possession also amonge oure fathers brethren.
American Standard Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wherefore then is the name of our father taken away from among his kinred, because he hath no sonne? Geue vnto vs therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.'
King James Version (1611)
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no sonne? Giue vnto vs therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Moses brought their case before the Lord.
English Revised Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.
Berean Standard Bible
Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan because he had no sons? Give us property among our father's brothers."
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Moises telde `the cause of hem to the doom of the Lord;
Young's Literal Translation
why is the name of our father withdrawn from the midst of his family because he hath no son? give to us a possession in the midst of the brethren of our father;'
Update Bible Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.
Webster's Bible Translation
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give to us [therefore] a possession among the brethren of our father.
World English Bible
Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father.
New King James Version
Why should the name of our father be removed from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers."
New Living Translation
Why should the name of our father disappear from his clan just because he had no sons? Give us property along with the rest of our relatives."
New Life Bible
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family because he had no son? Give us land among our father's brothers."
New Revised Standard
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers."
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wherefore should the name of our father be withdrawn out of the midst of his family, because he had no son? Give ye unto us a possession, ill the midst of the brethren of our father.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Moses referred their cause to the judgment of the Lord.
Revised Standard Version
Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brethren."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Why should the name of our father be withdrawn from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's brothers."

Contextual Overview

1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, came forward: their names are Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 They came before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the chiefs and all the people at the door of the Tent of meeting, and said, 3 Death overtook our father in the waste land; he was not among those who were banded together with Korah against the Lord; but death came to him in his sin; and he had no sons. 4 Why is the name of our father to be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give us a heritage among our father's brothers. 5 So Moses put their cause before the Lord. 6 And the Lord said to Moses, 7 What the daughters of Zelophehad say is right: certainly you are to give them a heritage among their father's brothers: and let the property which would have been their father's go to them. 8 And say to the children of Israel, If a man has no son at the time of his death, let his heritage go to his daughter. 9 And if he has no daughter, then give his heritage to his brothers. 10 And if he has no brothers, then give his heritage to his father's brothers.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Why: Exodus 32:11, Psalms 109:13, Proverbs 13:9

done away: Heb. diminished

Give: Joshua 17:4

Reciprocal: 1 Chronicles 2:34 - no sons

Cross-References

Genesis 14:19
And blessing him, said, May the blessing of the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth, be on Abram:
Genesis 24:60
And they gave Rebekah their blessing, saying, O sister, may you be the mother of thousands and ten thousands; and may your seed overcome all those who make war against them.
Genesis 27:1
Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I.
Genesis 27:7
Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.
Genesis 27:15
And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son:
Genesis 27:20
And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.
Genesis 27:22
And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
Genesis 27:23
And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.
Genesis 27:25
And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink.
Genesis 27:27
And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son.... Or be withdrawn, and his family lose their part and share on that account; this they thought was unreasonable: according to the Targum of Jonathan, to prevent the name of their father being lost, and his part in the land, their motion was, that their mother might marry their father's brother, according to the law in Deuteronomy 25:5, with which Jarchi agrees; but it does not appear that that law was as yet in being; though how otherwise the name of their father would be preserved, than by raising up seed in that way, is not easy to say; except, as some think, it was done by a son of one of those heiresses, or by the first son of everyone of them, being called after the name of their grandfather Zelophehad, or their mother's grandfather Hepher; though the Jews t commonly by the "name" understand no other than the "inheritance", which seems to be confirmed by what follows:

give us therefore a possession among the brethren of our fathers; a part with their uncles, or their children; by which they express their faith that the children of Israel would inherit the land, though as yet it was not conquered, nor even entered into; and might signify, as some think, their concern to have a part and portion in the heavenly inheritance the land of Canaan was typical of; and if so, as Ainsworth observes, they may be considered as five wise virgins indeed.

t Pesikta, T. Bab. Jebamot, fol. 49. 1. Moses Cotzensis Praecept. Affirm. 51. Apud Selden. de Succession. ad leg. Ebra. c. 14. p. 97, 98.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Give unto us - As representing our father; that so he, through us his representatives, may enjoy a like inheritance with his brethren.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile