Numbers 30
Big idea: A chapter about the weight of words. The principle is stated flatly for a man: when he vows a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath to bind his soul, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. The rest of the chapter deals with a woman's vow inside a household — a daughter in her father's house or a wife in her husband's — and gives the head of the household a narrow, time-limited power to annul it: only in the day that he hears it. If he says nothing, it stands, and his silence has established it. A widow's or divorced woman's vow stands absolutely. And if he annuls it after having let it stand, he bears her iniquity — the responsibility transfers to him.
Chapter 30 is about promises binding a household. Chapter 31 carries out the promise God made in chapter 25 — the reckoning with Midian.
30:1–5 — He shall not break his word
Moses speaks to the heads of the tribes: this is the thing which Yahweh has commanded. When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. When a woman vows a vow to Yahweh and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father's house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand. But if her father forbids her in the day that he hears, none of her vows shall stand, and Yahweh will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.
1 Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded. 2 When a man vows a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. 3 “Also, when a woman vows a vow to Yahweh and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father’s house, in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow and her pledge with which she has bound her soul, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she has bound her soul shall stand. 5 But if her father forbids her in the day that he hears, none of her vows or of her pledges with which she has bound her soul, shall stand. Yahweh will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.
30:6–16 — Silence establishes it
If she has a husband while her vows are on her, and he hears and says nothing in the day he hears it, her vows stand. But if he forbids her that day, he makes void her vow and the rash utterance of her lips, and Yahweh will forgive her. The vow of a widow or a divorced woman stands against her absolutely. If she vowed in her husband's house and he heard and held his peace and didn't disallow her, all her vows stand; if he made them void in the day he heard them, they shall not stand. Every vow and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish or make void. But if he says nothing from day to day, then he establishes all her vows, because he said nothing in the day he heard them. And if he makes them void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity. These are the statutes between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter in her youth.
6 “If she has a husband, while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips with which she has bound her soul, 7 and her husband hears it, and says nothing to her in the day that he hears it; then her vows shall stand, and her pledges with which she has bound her soul shall stand. 8 But if her husband forbids her in the day that he hears it, then he makes void her vow which is on her and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul. Yahweh will forgive her. 9 “But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her. 10 “If she vowed in her husband’s house or bound her soul by a bond with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her and didn’t disallow her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she bound her soul shall stand. 12 But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand. Her husband has made them void. Yahweh will forgive her. 13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges which are on her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her in the day that he heard them. 15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.” 16 These are the statutes which Yahweh commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).