Numbers 30

Laws for Vows

1 Then Moses spoke to {the leaders} of the tribes concerning the {Israelites}, saying, "This [is] the word that Yahweh commanded:

2 if a man makes a vow for Yahweh or swears an oath with a binding pledge on himself, he must not render his word invalid; he must do all that went out from his mouth.

3 "If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh, and she binds a pledge [on herself] in her father's house in your childhood,

4 but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand.

5 If her father forbids her on the day he hears [of it], all her vows or her pledges that she bound on herself will not stand, and Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forgiven her.

6 "If {she has a husband} while bound by her vows or a rash promise of her lips,

7 and her husband hears [of it] and is silent on the day he hears [it], her vows will stand, and her pledge that she bound upon herself will stand.

8 But if on the day her husband hears [of it], he forbids her, then he will nullify her vow that she is under, and the rash promise of her lips that she bound on herself; and Yahweh will forgive her.

9 "But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her.

10 But if she made a vow [in] her husband's house, or bound herself on a pledge with a sworn oath,

11 and her husband heard [it] but was silent to her, and he did not forbid her, all her vows will stand and every pledge that she bound on herself will stand.

12 But if her husband nullified them on the day he hears [them], all her vows going out of her lips concerning her vows or the pledge on herself will not stand; her husband has nullified them, and Yahweh will forgive her.

13 "Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it.

14 But if her husband is completely silent from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her pledges that [are] on her; he confirms them because he was silent to her on the day he heard [them].

15 But if he indeed nullifies them after he hears them, then he will bear her guilt."

16 These [are] the decrees that Yahweh commanded Moses, as between a husband and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, [while] her childhood [is in] her father's house.

Numbers 30 Commentary

Chapter 30

Vows to be kept. (1,2) The cases wherein vows might be released. (3-16)

Verses 1-2 No man can be bound by his own promise to do what he is already, by the Divine precept, forbidden to do. In other matters the command is, that he shall not break his words, through he may change his mind.

Verses 3-16 Two cases of vows are determined. The case of a daughter in her father's house. When her vow comes to his knowledge, it is in his power either to confirm it or do it away. The law is plain in the case of a wife. If her husband allows her vow, though only by silence, it stands. If he disallows it, her obligation to her husband takes place of it; for to him she ought to be in subjection, as unto the Lord. The Divine law consults the good order of families. It is fit that every man should bear rule in his own house, and have his wife and children in subjection; rather than that this great rule should be broken, or any encouragement be given to inferior relations to break those bonds asunder, God releases the obligation even of a solemn vow. So much does religion secure the welfare of all societies; and in it the families of the earth have a blessing.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the heads"
• [b]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [c]. Literally "she is to a man"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 30

Mention being made, in the latter part of the preceding chapter, of vows to be performed to the Lord, besides the sacrifices directed to; here some account is given of them, and men are charged to fulfil, and not break them, Nu 30:1,2 but as to women, if a maid, being in her father's house, made a vow in his hearing, and he silent at it, her vow stood; but if he disapproved of it, it was null and void, Nu 30:3-5 and so a wife, when she vowed a vow in the hearing of her husband, and he said not ought against it, it was valid; but if he objected to it, it stood for nothing, Nu 30:6-8, likewise a widow, or one divorced, that made a vow in her husband's house, before he died, or she was put away from him, and he did not contradict it, it remained in force and to be fulfilled; but if he made it void, it stood not, and she was forgiven, Nu 30:9-12 it being in an husband's power to confirm or make null a vow or oath, made by his wife to afflict her soul; but if he made any void after he heard them, and had been silent, he himself was to bear her iniquity, Nu 30:13-16.