But is literally “And,” which introduces a contrast here. Good News Translation helpfully adds the verb “remember” to indicate that the speakers are not giving Moses some new information here. Another possible connector here is “But as you know.”

If they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers …: The pronouns they and their refer to the daughters of Zelophehad. The pronoun they may need to be rendered “his [Zelophehad’s] daughters” (New Century Version) for clarity. Chewa says “our children.” If they are married to … is literally “if they become wives of…,” which may be more natural in some languages. In Chewa men “marry” while women “are/get married.” In this context inheritance (nachalah in Hebrew) refers specifically to inherited land, as in 35.2. Our fathers may be rendered “our ancestors” (New Revised Standard Version).

And added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they belong: Through their marriages, Zelophehad’s daughters will belong to their husbands’ tribes. New Revised Standard Version and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh render the tribe to which they belong as “the tribe into which they marry.” For the Hebrew term rendered tribe (matteh), see 1.4. There may be some subtle cultural issues that translators will have to carefully investigate before translating verses 2-4; for example, Chewa society is matrilineal, and therefore wives do not “belong to” their husband’s tribe. Furthermore, in a traditional (rural) setting a woman does not “own property”; rather, it belongs to her clan if she dies. In a patrilineal society, on the other hand, any property or possessions belong to her husband and his clan. La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual provides a helpful model for the first half of this verse, saying “However, we are concerned that they will marry men from another tribe. Because then the land of them and our tribe will become the land of the tribe of the men they marry.”

So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance: Although lot translates the same Hebrew term (goral) as in 26.55-56, here the lot of our inheritance may be rendered “the allotted portion of our inheritance” (New Revised Standard Version). The pronoun our refers to the family leaders of the clan of Gilead (verse 1), who are still speaking. In some languages it will be helpful to make the speakers the subject of this sentence; for example, La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual says “We would lose part of the territory that you [Moses] gave us.” Other possible models are “In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced” (Good News Translation) and “thus our allotted portion will be diminished” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; similarly Bible en français courant, Parole de Vie). Other (patrilineal) cultures, however, may use expressions similar to that of the Hebrew text.

New Living Translation provides the following helpful model for this verse:

• But if they marry men from another tribe, their grants of land will go with them to the tribe into which they marry. In this way, the total area of our tribal land will be reduced.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .