Numbers 30:1-9

1 And Moses speaketh unto the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, `This [is] the thing which Jehovah hath commanded:

2 `When a man voweth a vow to Jehovah, or hath sworn an oath to bind a bond on his soul, he doth not pollute his word; according to all that is going out from his mouth he doth.

3 `And when a woman voweth a vow to Jehovah, and hath bound a bond in the house of her father in her youth,

4 and her father hath heard her vow, and her bond which she hath bound on her soul, and her father hath kept silent at her, then have all her vows been established, and every bond which she hath bound on her soul is established.

5 `And if her father hath disallowed her in the day of his hearing, none of her vows and her bonds which she hath bound on her soul is established, and Jehovah is propitious to her, for her father hath disallowed her.

6 `And if she be at all to a husband, and her vows [are] on her, or a wrongful utterance [on] her lips, which she hath bound on her soul,

7 and her husband hath heard, and in the day of his hearing, he hath kept silent at her, then have her vows been established, and her bonds which she hath bound on her soul are established.

8 `And if in the day of her husband's hearing he disalloweth her, then he hath broken her vow which [is] on her, and the wrongful utterance of her lips which she hath bound on her soul, and Jehovah is propitious to her.

9 `As to the vow of a widow or cast-out woman, all that she hath bound on her soul is established on her.

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.