Chapter Thirty

Concerning vows.

Numbers 30:1. And Moses told the sons of Israel all that the Lord commanded him. Numbers 30:2. And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying: This is what the Lord has commanded: Numbers 30:3. If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to bind himself with a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. By the term “vow” (neder) is meant a positive promise to do something, to refrain from something (in the latter case it is a “pledge” – issur, verse 3), and also to dedicate someone in God’s name. Concerning vows, see the book Lev 27:1, the book Num 6:1. In the present chapter, cases are noted when vows are to be kept, and cases when vows cannot have force.

Numbers 30:4. If a woman makes a vow to the Lord and binds herself with a pledge, while in her father’s house, in her youth, Numbers 30:5. and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself, and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. Numbers 30:6. But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, none of her vows and none of her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her. Numbers 30:7. And if she is married while bound by her vow or any thoughtless utterance from her lips by which she bound herself, Numbers 30:8. and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she bound herself shall stand. Numbers 30:9. But if her husband opposes her on the day that he hears of it, then he makes void her vow which is on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself, [and it shall not stand, because her husband made it void,] and the Lord will forgive her. Numbers 30:10. Any vow or any binding oath to afflict herself, a widow or a divorced woman may establish. Numbers 30:11. And if she made a vow in her husband’s house, or bound herself with a pledge by an oath, Numbers 30:12. and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. Numbers 30:13. But if her husband makes them void on the day that he hears them, then nothing that proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her binding pledge shall stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will forgive her. Numbers 30:14. Any vow and any binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish, or her husband may make void. Numbers 30:15. But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her. Numbers 30:16. But if he makes them void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity. Numbers 30:17. These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife, and about a father and his daughter while she is still young and in her father’s house. An achievable vow made by a person not bound by law in their personal affairs by another’s will must be fulfilled. A vow made by a person subject to another’s will has force only when that other person confirms it either verbally or by simple non-objection at the moment of the utterance of the vow or mention of it.