The Wilderness Years

Then the chiefe fathers of the familie of the sonnes of Gilead, the sonne of Machir, the sonne of Manasseh, of the families of the sones of Ioseph, came, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chiefe fathers of the children of Israel,

And saide, The Lord commanded my lord to giue the land to inherit by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by the Lord, to giue the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother vnto his daughters.

If they bee married to any of the sonnes of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and shalbe put vnto the inheritance of the tribe whereof they shalbe: so shall it be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.

Also when the Iubile of the children of Israel commeth, then shall their inheritance be put vnto the inheritance of the tribe whereof they shall be: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

Then Moses commanded the children of Israel, according to the word of the Lord, saying, The tribe of the sonnes of Ioseph haue said well.

This is the thing that the Lord hath commanded, concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, They shall be wiues, to whome they thinke best, onely to the familie of the tribe of their father shall they marry:

So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remoue from tribe to tribe, for euery one of the children of Israel shall ioyne himselfe to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

And euery daughter that possesseth any inheritance of the tribes of the children of Israel, shalbe wife vnto one of the familie of the tribe of her father: that the children of Israel may enioye euery man the inheritance of their fathers.

Neither shall the inheritance go about from tribe to tribe: but euery one of the tribes of the childre of Israel shall sticke to his own inheritace.

As the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad.

For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah the daughters of Zelophehad were married vnto their fathers brothers sonnes,

They were wiues to certaine of the families of the sonnes of Manasseh the sonne of Ioseph: so their inheritance remained in the tribe of the familie of their father.

These are the commandements and lawes which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, vnto the children of Israel in the plaine of Moab, by Iorden toward Iericho.

These bee the wordes which Moses spake vnto all Israel, on this side Iorden in the wildernesse, in the plaine, ouer against the red Sea, betweene Paran and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.

There are eleuen dayes iourney from Horeb vnto Kadesh-barnea, by the way of mout Seir.

And it came to passe in the first day of the eleuenth moneth, in the fourtieth yeere that Moses spake vnto the children of Israel according vnto all that the Lord had giuen him in commandement vnto them,

After that he had slaine Sihon the king of the Amorites which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, which dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.

On this side Iorden in the lande of Moab began Moses to declare this lawe, saying,

The Lord our God spake vnto vs in Horeb, saying, Ye haue dwelt long ynough in this mount,

Turne you and depart, and goe vnto the mountaine of the Amorites, and vnto all places neere thereunto in the plaine, in the mountaine, or in the valley: both Southwarde, and to the Sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and vnto Lebanon: euen vnto the great riuer, the riuer Perath.

Beholde, I haue set the land before you: go in and possesse that land which the Lord sware vnto your fathers, Abraham, Izhak, and Iaakob, to giue vnto them and to their seede after them.

And I spake vnto you the same time, saying, I am not able to beare you my selfe alone:

The Lord your God hath multiplied you: and beholde, ye are this day as the starres of heauen in nomber:

(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many moe as ye are, and blesse you, as he hath promised you)

Howe can I alone beare your combrance and your charge, and your strife?