And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be wife to …: The generalized instruction (not just for Zelophehad’s daughters) begun in verse 7 continues here, so every daughter may be rendered “Every woman” (Good News Translation). Who possesses an inheritance is literally “who takes possession of an inheritance.” In some languages it is more natural to say “who inherits property” (Good News Translation) or “who inherits land” (New International Version). Shall be wife to may be translated “must marry” (Good News Translation; see the comments on verse 3 about the possible cultural influence on “marriage” terminology).

One of the family of the tribe of her father: As in verses 1 and 6, the Hebrew word for family (mishpachah) is more accurately rendered “clan” (New Revised Standard Version). Similar to verse 6, translations differ on the ambiguity in the Hebrew phrase here. It can be taken to mean that the husband should not just be a member of his wife’s tribe but also her clan (so Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, ESV, Reina-Valera revisida, Herziene Statenvertaling, Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, Buber, Luther). The alternative interpretation only says that the husband has to be a member of any clan within his wife’s tribe. Renderings that follow this interpretation are “someone from a clan of her father’s tribe” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) and “one from the clans of her father’s tribe” (Contemporary Russian Version). Many other translations follow this second interpretation (so NET Bible, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle, La Nouvelle Bible Segond, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel: Einheitsübersetzung der Heiligen Schrift, Zürcher Bibel, SPCL, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, Nije Fryske Bibeloersetting, Willibrordvertaling). Contemporary Russian Version follows it explicitly by saying “within one of the clans of their father’s tribe.” By implication, Good News Translation is based on the same interpretation by saying “a man belonging to that tribe” (similarly Parole de Vie), and so is Contemporary English Version with “someone from her own tribe” (similarly La Biblia: Traducción en Lenguaje Actual). Chewa has “the children [sons] of the relatives of their fathers,” which is based on this interpretation as well. As in verse 6, New International Version attempts to solve the problem by treating “clan” and “tribe” as almost synonyms, saying “someone in her father’s tribal clan.” In any case, we advise translators to render this phrase in verse 8 and the one in verse 6 (“within the family of the tribe of their father”) consistently.

So that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers: See verse 7. New Living Translation provides a helpful model here, saying “so that all the Israelites will keep their ancestral property.”

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 .