Numbers 30:1-9

1 And Moses spoke unto the princes of the tribes concerning the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD has commanded.

2 When a man vows a vow unto the LORD or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not defile his word: he shall do according to all that proceeded out of his mouth.

3 But the woman, when she shall vow a vow unto the LORD and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth,

4 and her father hears her vow and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father shall remain silent regarding it, then all her promises shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

5 But if her father disallows her in the day that he hears all of her vows and of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, they shall not stand, and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

6 But if she had at all a husband when she vowed or pronounced anything out of her lips, with which she bound her soul,

7 if her husband heard it and remained silent regarding it in the day that he heard it, then her vows shall stand, and her bonds with which she bound her soul shall stand.

8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it, then her vow which she vowed and that which she pronounced with her lips, with which she bound her soul, shall be of no effect, and the LORD shall forgive her.

9 But every vow of a widow and of her that is divorced, with which they have bound their souls, shall stand.

Numbers 30:1-9 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.