Numbers30
American Standard Version · Public Domain
1And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded.
2When a man voweth a vow unto Jehovah, or sweareth 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.
3Also when a woman voweth a vow unto Jehovah, and bindeth herself by a bond, being in her father’s house, in her youth,
4and her father heareth her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father holdeth 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, none of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and Jehovah will forgive her, because her father disallowed her.
6And if she be married to a husband, while her vows are upon her, or the rash utterance of her lips, wherewith she hath bound her soul,
7and her husband hear it, and hold his peace at her in the day that he heareth it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.
8But if her husband disallow her in the day that he heareth it, then he shall make void her vow which is upon her, and the rash utterance of her lips, wherewith she hath bound her soul: and Jehovah will forgive her.
9But the vow of a widow, or of her that is divorced, even everything wherewith she hath bound her soul, 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 made them null and void in the day that 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 Jehovah will 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 hath established them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.
15But if he shall make them null and void after that he hath heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.
16These are the statutes, which Jehovah commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Numbers 30.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Vows to be kept. (1, 2). The cases wherein vows might be released. (3–16).
vv1-2
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.
vv3-16
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.
Key Words
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
רֹאשׁ: the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.)
מַטֶּה: a branch (as extending); figuratively, a tribe; also a rod, whether for chastising (figuratively, correction), ruling (a sceptre), throwing (a lance), or walking (a staff; figuratively, a support of life, e.g. bread)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
זֶה: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
צָוָה: (intensively) to constitute, enjoin
Cross References
Numbers 30Establishes the command to pay vows to God without delay, echoing the absolute binding nature.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Exhorts keeping vows to God immediately, as God has no pleasure in fools who delay.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Condemns the Pharisaic abuse of vows (Corban) to escape duties to parents, violating parental authority.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates the meaning of 'profaning' or breaking a covenant or spoken word.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Reiterates the obligation to perform what has freely gone out of one's lips.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Defines the phrase 'to afflict the soul' as self-denial, especially fasting.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Grounds the husband's veto power in the creation order of marital subjection.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallels the responsibility of bearing iniquity for silent complicity in a vow or oath.
Supported by Matthew Poole