Numbers 36 — Hebrew and Greek compared
← Numbers 35 compared · Reading text of Numbers 36 · Numbers: all chapters
Same 3 Similar 2 Different 5 Divergent 2 Disparate 1
Disparate in this chapter: 36:1
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Leaders' Petition
36:1 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:1 The ancestral heads of the clan of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Joseph’s descendants, approached and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the ancestral heads of the Israelites.
Greek · Saints priority
36:1 The rulers of the tribe of the descendants of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the tribe of Joseph’s descendants, approached and spoke before Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the rulers of the ancestral houses of the Israelites.
Greek explicitly includes Eleazar the priest among those hearing the case and uses tribal terminology where Hebrew describes clans.
36:2 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:2 They said, “YHWH commanded my lord to give the land to the Israelites as an inheritance by lot, and my lord was commanded by YHWH to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.
Greek · Saints priority
36:2 They said, “The Lord commanded our lord to distribute the inherited land by lot to the Israelites, and the Lord instructed the lord to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.
The honorific refers to Moses; Greek first has “our lord” where Hebrew has “my lord.”
36:3 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:3 But if they become wives of men from one of the other Israelite tribes, their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. It will be taken from our allotted inheritance.
Greek · Saints priority
36:3 If they become wives in one of the Israelite tribes, their allotment will be taken from our fathers’ possession and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. It will be taken from our inherited allotment.
Both identify the same consequence for the tribe’s land.
36:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:4 When the Jubilee comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”
Greek · Saints priority
36:4 If the release comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.”
Greek aphesis describes release where Hebrew names the Jubilee. Both present the tribal transfer as persisting through that event.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi distinguishes inherited land from land sold temporarily: the tribal transfer through inheritance would not be reversed at the Jubilee.
Source: Rashi, Numbers 36:4
Inheritance within the Tribe
36:5 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:5 Moses commanded the Israelites at YHWH’s direction, saying, “The tribe of Joseph’s descendants speaks rightly.
Greek · Saints priority
36:5 Moses commanded the Israelites by the Lord’s instruction, saying, “Thus speaks the tribe of Joseph’s descendants.
Hebrew ken affirms the claim as right in context; Greek houtōs directly states “thus.”
36:6 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:6 This is what YHWH has commanded concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: Let them marry whom they think best, but they shall marry within the clan of their father’s tribe.
Greek · Saints priority
36:6 This is the word that the Lord prescribed concerning Zelophehad’s daughters: Let them marry whom they please, but they shall marry from their father’s clan.
Hebrew explicitly combines clan and tribe; Greek states the father’s clan. The women’s choice is retained alongside the kinship restriction in both.
36:7 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:7 No inheritance of the Israelites shall pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite shall hold fast to the inheritance of his ancestral tribe.
Greek · Saints priority
36:7 No inheritance among the Israelites shall pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite shall hold fast to the inheritance of his ancestral tribe.
36:8 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:8 Every daughter who inherits property among the Israelite tribes shall marry someone from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that each Israelite may possess his ancestral inheritance.
Greek · Saints priority
36:8 Every daughter who succeeds as next of kin to an inheritance among the Israelite tribes shall marry someone from her father’s clan, so that each Israelite may succeed as next of kin to his paternal inheritance.
Greek anchisteuō explicitly emphasizes succession through kinship; Hebrew uses the ordinary inheritance verb and explicitly includes the tribe.
36:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:9 No inheritance shall pass from one tribe to another, for the Israelite tribes shall each hold fast to their own inheritance.”
Greek · Saints priority
36:9 No allotment shall pass from one tribe to another; rather, the Israelites shall each hold fast to their own inheritance.”
Hebrew explicitly makes the tribes the final collective subject; Greek names the Israelites.
Obedience of the Daughters
36:10 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:10 Zelophehad’s daughters did as YHWH had commanded Moses.
Greek · Saints priority
36:10 Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
36:11 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, became wives of their paternal uncles’ sons.
Greek · Saints priority
36:11 Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, Noah, and Mahlah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married their cousins.
Greek moves Mahlah from first to last and uses the broader word cousins, where Hebrew specifies sons of their paternal uncles.
Rabbinic reception: Rashi understands the Hebrew order here as reflecting the daughters’ ages, while explaining other lists through their wisdom. His explanation concerns the Hebrew ordering; the Greek sequence is preserved independently.
Source: Rashi, Numbers 36:11
36:12 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:12 They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained within the tribe of their father’s clan.
Greek · Saints priority
36:12 They married within the clan of Manasseh, of Joseph’s descendants, and their inheritance remained with the tribe of their father’s clan.
The tribal retention of the inheritance agrees.
Summary of the Wilderness Era
36:13 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
36:13 These are the commandments and judgments that YHWH commanded the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Greek · Saints priority
36:13 These are the commandments, ordinances, and judgments that the Lord commanded through Moses on the western side of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Greek adds ordinances to the closing legal list, omits the explicit Israelite addressees, and again reads Moab’s west where Hebrew names its plains.
← Numbers 35 compared · Reading text of Numbers 36 · Numbers: all chapters
Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.