27:1 1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, 2 the son Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 27:2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, 27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although 3 he was not part of 4 the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, 5 and he had no sons. 27:4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession 6 among the relatives 7 of our father.”
27:5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord.
1 sn For additional information on this section, see N. H. Snaith, “The Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 124-27; and J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Daughters of Zelophehad,” VT 16 (1966): 518-22.
2 tc The phrase “of the families of Manasseh” is absent from the Latin Vulgate.
3 tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.
4 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
5 tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”
6 tn That is, the possession of land, or property, among the other families of their tribe.
7 tn The word is “brothers,” but this can be interpreted more loosely to relatives. So also in v. 7.