Numbers 30:1-8

1 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.
2 And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, This the thing which the Lord has commanded.
3 Whatsoever man shall vow a vow to the Lord, or swear an oath, or bind himself with an obligation upon his soul, he shall not break his word; all that shall come out of his mouth he shall do.
4 And if a woman shall vow a vow to the Lord, or bind herself with an obligation in her youth in her father's house; and her father should hear her vows and her obligations, wherewith she has bound her soul, and her father should hold his peace at her, then all her vows shall stand,
5 and all the obligations with which she has bound her soul, shall remain to her.
6 But if her father straitly forbid in the day in which he shall hear all her vows and her obligations, which she has contracted upon her soul, they shall not stand; and the Lord shall hold her guiltless, because her father forbade her.
7 But if she should be indeed married, and her vows be upon her according to the utterance of her lips, which she has contracted upon her soul;
8 and her husband should hear, and hold his peace at her in the day in which he should hear, then thus shall all her vows be binding, and her obligations, which she has contracted upon her soul shall stand.

Numbers 30:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. profane
  • [b]. It would seem that the relative in respect of ??? must refer to ???sµ???, understood.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.