Numbers 30King James Version
Vows and oaths. A man's vow stands. A woman's vow may be confirmed or annulled by her father or husband on the day he hears it. The chapter is short and reads as a legal aside in the middle of all the bigger material.
Moses gives the law of vows: a man who vows to God must keep the vow. A woman's vow can be ratified or annulled by her father if she lives in his house, or by her husband. If a father or husband hears a vow and says nothing, the vow stands. If he annuls it, he bears the guilt for breaking it. A widow's or divorced woman's vow stands without qualification.
A vow made to God is serious; the law here distributes accountability carefully rather than treating all vows as equally binding regardless of social context.
2: "If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth." The baseline rule before the qualifications begin.
The plains of Moab, 1406 BC. Vows in the ancient world were often made under pressure: battle, illness, grief. The regulation system here addresses both the person who vowed and the household authority structure in which their commitment operates. It is practical law for a community where what you say in extremity can shape what you owe.
Moses, who transmits the law; unnamed father, husband, widow, and divorced woman as legal categories.
The law of vows is referenced directly in the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says let your yes be yes and your no be no, echoing the principle that spoken commitments bind. The legal structure here regarding women's vows has been widely discussed in the context of ancient Israelite family law and gender. The key practical point is that silence equals ratification.
For when you made a promise in a moment of desperation and you are not sure what to do with it now. The chapter takes the spoken word seriously and does not dismiss impulsive vows as irrelevant.
1And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded.
2If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
3If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father's house in her youth;
4And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.
5But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.
6And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;
7And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.
8But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.
9But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.
10And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath;
11And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.
12But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.
13Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
14But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.
15But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.
16These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father's house.