Numbers 30

1 Then Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel, “ This is what the LORD has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised. 3 And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge, 4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, then none of the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. The LORD will absolve her because her father has prohibited her. 6 If a woman marries while under a vow or rash promise by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her on that day, then the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if her husband prohibits her when he hears of it, he nullifies the vow that binds her or the rash promise she has made, and the LORD will absolve her. 9 Every vow a widow or divorced woman pledges to fulfill is binding on her. 10 If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath, 11 and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her and does not prohibit her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or pledges, shall stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will absolve her. 13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow or any sworn pledge to deny herself. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all the vows and pledges that bind her. He has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard about them. 15 But if he nullifies them after he hears of them, then he will bear her iniquity.” 16 These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Numbers 30 sets out the legal force of vows (*neder*) and binding oaths (*issar*) made by men and women, and specifies when a father or husband may nullify a woman's vow. The chapter closes by naming these rules "statutes" (*chuqqim*) that Yahweh commanded through Moses regarding the relationship between husband/wife and father/daughter. ## Key words - *neder* ("vow", H5088) — a masculine noun repeated throughout as the technical term for a formal promise made to Yahweh; it recurs in construct chains ("her vow," "his vow") tracking whose obligation is in question. - *issar* ("obligation/bond", H0632) — paired with *neder* almost every time it appears, forming a fixed legal doublet ("vow and obligation") that frames the chapter's casuistic style. - *heni'* ("he forbade", H5106) — hiphil perfect of a causative root, used specifically for a father's or husband's act of objecting to a woman's vow on the day he hears of it. - *hefer* ("he broke/nullified", H6565A) — hiphil, often intensified by an infinitive absolute construction (*hafer yafer*, "he will surely nullify"), marking the legal act that voids a vow. - *hecherish* ("he kept silent", H2790B) — hiphil sequential perfect; silence functions as a legally significant act, since it causes the vows to "stand" (*yaqum*, H6965I). ## What the text says The chapter is built as a series of conditional clauses using *ki* ("if/when", H3588A) followed by imperfect or perfect verb forms, a pattern typical of legal casuistry: a situation is stated, then its consequence. The recurring verb *qum* ("to stand", H6965I) in the imperfect ("it will stand") functions as the technical marker of legal validity — a vow that "stands" remains binding. Its negation, "it will not stand" (v.5, v.9, v.13), marks nullification. The grammar distinguishes silence from active objection through paired hiphil verbs: *hecherish* ("he kept silent") causes vows to stand, while *heni'* ("he forbade") or *hefer* ("he broke") causes them to fall. The construct chains *nidrah*, *isarah* ("her vow," "her obligation") consistently attach the vow to the woman as subject even when a father or husband holds power over its confirmation, showing that the vow originates with her regardless of who may annul it. ## Differences between versions In verse 1, the Hebrew addresses the *rashei ha-mattot* ("heads of the tribes", H7218/H4294) "of the sons of Israel," while the LXX (Swete) and the Vulgate render this as Moses speaking directly "to the sons of Israel" (τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραήλ / filiis Israël), omit

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.