Numbers 27:11
וְאִם־אֵין אַחִים לְאָבִיו וּנְתַתֶּם אֶת־נַחֲלָתוֹ לִשְׁאֵרוֹ הַקָּרֹב אֵלָיו מִמִּשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ וְיָרַשׁ אֹתָהּ וְֽהָיְתָה לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לְחֻקַּת מִשְׁפָּט כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאִם־אֵ֣ין אַחִים֮ לְאָבִיו֒ וּנְתַתֶּ֣ם אֶת־נַחֲלָת֗וֹ לִשְׁאֵר֞וֹ הַקָּרֹ֥ב אֵלָ֛יו מִמִּשְׁפַּחְתּ֖וֹ וְיָרַ֣שׁ אֹתָ֑הּ וְֽהָ֨יְתָ֜ה לִבְנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לְחֻקַּ֣ת מִשְׁפָּ֔ט כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר צִוָּ֥ה יְהוָ֖ה אֶת־מֹשֶֽׁה׃ ס
ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ὦσιν ἀδελφοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, δώσετε τὴν κληρονομίαν τῷ οἰκείῳ τῷ ἔγγιοτα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς αὐτοῦ· κληρονομήσει τὰ αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἔσται τοῦτο τοῖς υἱοῖς ᾿Ισραὴλ δικαίωμα κρίσεως, καθὰ συνέταξεν κύριος τῷ Μωυσῇ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Sin autem nec patruos habuerit, dabitur hæreditas his qui ei proximi sunt. Eritque hoc filiis Israël sanctum lege perpetua, sicut præcepit Dominus Moysi.
Y si su padre no tuvo hermanos, le darán la herencia al pariente más cercano de su familia, y él se quedará con ella. Esta será una ley y un reglamento para los israelitas, tal como Yehová se lo ha ordenado a Moisés’”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y si su padre no tuviere hermanos, daréis su herencia á su pariente más cercano de su linaje, el cual la poseerá: y será á los hijos de Israel por estatuto de derecho, como Jehová mandó á Moisés.
And if his father has no brothers, give his inheritance to the next of kin from his clan, that he may take possession of it. This is to be a statutory ordinance for the Israelites, as the LORD has commanded Moses.’” Moses Requests a Successor (Deuteronomy 3:23–29)
✦ What the text says
Summary
This verse continues the inheritance law for Zelophehad's daughters, extending it to a further case: if a deceased man's father has no brothers, the inheritance passes to the nearest relative within his clan. The verse closes the unit by declaring this a binding legal statute commanded by Yehovah to Moses.
Key words
- 'ein ("not", H0369) — a construct-form negator meaning "there is no...", governing 'achim to state the absence of brothers as the triggering condition.
- she'er ("relative", H7607) — construct singular with pronominal suffix ("his relative"), the general kinship term used before it is narrowed by ha-qarov.
- qarov ("near", H7138) — adjective modifying she'er, specifying "the near one," i.e., the closest relative, not just any relative.
- yarash ("he will take possession of", H3423G) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the chain of legal actions (give → take possession → become).
- tzivvah ("he has commanded", H6680) — piel perfect (intensive stem), marking Yehovah's command as a completed, authoritative act that grounds the statute just stated.
What the text says
The verse opens with the conditional marker ve-'im ("and if") followed by the negated construct 'ein 'achim le-'avihu ("there are no brothers belonging to his father"), a common Biblical Hebrew way of expressing "if his father has no brothers." The apodosis begins with a sequential perfect verb, u-netatem ("and you will give"), which continues a chain of instructions from the preceding verses rather than standing as an independent statement — this verb form is typical of legal/narrative sequences in the Torah, where each clause builds on the previous ruling.
The inheritance (nachalato, "his inheritance") is directed li-she'ero ha-qarov elav mi-mishpachto — literally "to his relative, the near one to him, from his clan," a layered phrase that first names the general category (relative), then narrows it by proximity (qarov), then specifies the domain (mishpachah, "clan"). Two more sequential perfects follow — ve-yarash ("and he will take possession") and ve-hayetah ("and it will become") — extending the legal outcome to the whole community of bnei Yisra'el ("the sons/people of Israel"). The passage ends with chuqqat mishpat, a construct phrase meaning "a statute of judgment," qualified by ka'asher tzivvah Yehovah et-Mosheh ("as Yehovah commanded Moses"), using the piel perfect tzivvah to mark this as a settled, prior command now applied as precedent.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew 'achim le-'avihu ("brothers belonging to his father") is rendered in the Vulgate as patruos ("paternal uncles" specifically), a more specific Latin term than the Hebrew's general "brothers of the father." The LXX instead renders mishpachto ("his clan", H4940) with phylēs ("tribe"), a broader kinship unit than the Hebrew term designates. The LXX also translates she'er ha-qarov as tō oikeiō tō eggista ("the household member nearest"), shifting the emphasis slightly from kinship (she'er) toward household association (oikeios).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.