¹ And daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh son of Joseph, draw near -- and these [are] the names of his daughters, Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah --

² and stand before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes, and all the company, at the opening of the tent of meeting, saying:

³ `Our father died in the wilderness, and he -- he was not in the midst of the company who were met together against Jehovah in the company of Korah, but for his own sin he died, and had no sons;

⁴ why is the name of our father withdrawn from the midst of his family because he hath no son? give to us a possession in the midst of the brethren of our father;'

⁵ and Moses bringeth near their cause before Jehovah.

⁶ And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

⁷ `Rightly are the daughters of Zelophehad speaking; thou dost certainly give to them a possession of an inheritance in the midst of their father's brethren, and hast caused to pass over the inheritance of their father to them.

⁸ `And unto the sons of Israel thou dost speak, saying, When a man dieth, and hath no son, then ye have caused his inheritance to pass over to his daughter;

⁹ and if he have no daughter, then ye have given his inheritance to his brethren;

¹⁰ and if he have no brethren, then ye have given his inheritance to his father's brethren;

¹¹ and if his father have no brethren, then ye have given his inheritance to his relation who is near unto him of his family, and he hath possessed it;' and it hath been to the sons of Israel for a statute of judgment, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

¹² And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Go up unto this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel;

¹³ and thou hast seen it, and thou hast been gathered unto thy people, also thou, as Aaron thy brother hath been gathered,

¹⁴ because ye provoked My mouth in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the company -- to sanctify Me at the waters before their eyes;' they [are] waters of Meribah, in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin.

¹⁵ And Moses speaketh unto Jehovah, saying,

¹⁶ `Jehovah -- God of the spirits of all flesh -- appoint a man over the company,

¹⁷ who goeth out before them, and who cometh in before them, and who taketh them out, and who bringeth them in, and the company of Jehovah is not as sheep which have no shepherd.'

¹⁸ And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take to thee Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom [is] the Spirit, and thou hast laid thine hand upon him,

¹⁹ and hast caused him to stand before Eleazar the priest, and before all the company, and hast charged him before their eyes,

²⁰ and hast put of thine honour upon him, so that all the company of the sons of Israel do hearken.

²¹ `And before Eleazar the priest he standeth, and he hath asked for him by the judgment of the Lights before Jehovah; at His word they go out, and at His word they come in; he, and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the company.'

²² And Moses doth as Jehovah hath commanded him, and taketh Joshua, and causeth him to stand before Eleazar the priest, and before all the company,

²³ and layeth his hands upon him, and chargeth him, as Jehovah hath spoken by the hand of Moses.

¹ There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

² Yahweh appeared to him, and said, "Don't go down into Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.

³ Live in this land, and I will be with you, and will bless you. For to you, and to your seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.

⁴ I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and will give to your seed all these lands. In your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed,

⁵ because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my requirements, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

⁶ Isaac lived in Gerar.

⁷ The men of the place asked him about his wife. He said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "My wife," lest, he thought, "the men of the place might kill me for Rebekah, because she is beautiful to look at."

⁸ It happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.

⁹ Abimelech called Isaac, and said, "Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister?'" Isaac said to him, "Because I said, 'Lest I die because of her.'"

¹⁰ Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!"

¹¹ Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, "He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."

¹² Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.

¹³ The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great.

¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him.

¹⁵ Now all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.

¹⁶ Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go from us, for you are much mightier than we."

¹⁷ Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸ Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the names by which his father had called them.

¹⁹ Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.

²⁰ The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, "The water is ours." He called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.

²¹ They dug another well, and they argued over that, also. He called its name Sitnah.

²² He left that place, and dug another well. They didn't argue over that one. He called it Rehoboth. He said, "For now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land."

²³ He went up from there to Beersheba.

²⁴ Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Don't be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham's sake."

²⁵ He built an altar there, and called on the name of Yahweh, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac's servants dug a well.

²⁶ Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.

²⁷ Isaac said to them, "Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?"

²⁸ They said, "We saw plainly that Yahweh was with you. We said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you,

²⁹ that you will do us no harm, as we have not touched you, and as we have done to you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace.' You are now the blessed of Yahweh."

³⁰ He made them a feast, and they ate and drank.

³¹ They rose up some time in the morning, and swore one to another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.

³² It happened the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, "We have found water."

³³ He called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

³⁴ When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.

³⁵ They grieved Isaac's and Rebekah's spirits.