Study Desk

So Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, "This is the land that you shall inherit by lot among you as a possession, which Yahweh has commanded to give to the nine and a half tribes.

And the cities shall be for you as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

‘But if he struck him down with an iron object, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death.

So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land, and no propitiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong; so their inheritance will be withdrawn from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers."

And every daughter who comes into possession of an inheritance of any tribe of the sons of Israel shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, so that the sons of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.

Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did:

So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and gave them as heads over you, leaders of thousands and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers for your tribes.

And Yahweh said to me, ‘Say to them, "Do not go up and do not fight—for I am not among you—so that you are not defeated before your enemies."'

So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of Yahweh and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country.

So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.

and command the people, saying, "You are going to pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful;

You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also bargain with them for water with money so that you may drink.

"So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

‘Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.' So we crossed over the brook Zered.

"So it happened when all the men of war had come to an end in death from among the people,

"So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,

You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot,

And Yahweh said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess, so that you may fully possess his land.'

So we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction the men, women, and little ones of every city. We left no survivor remaining.