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Making and Keeping Vows
Numbers 30:1–16 explains how vows and oaths were to be handled among Israel. The passage focuses on spoken promises made to Yahweh and on when those words stood, were stopped, or were made void under these statutes.
Understanding the passage
Understanding the setting
Moses speaks to the heads of the tribes and says this is what Yahweh commanded. The passage is law and instruction. It sets out rules for vows, pledges and binding oaths, especially within households, and ends by calling them statutes for family relationships.
Numbers 30:1–16Main takeaway
This passage teaches that spoken vows to Yahweh were serious matters, and these statutes carefully defined when such vows stood or could be made void.
Explore the instructions
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A vow must not be brokenThe passage begins with a clear rule for a man who vows a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath.
Explanation
The passage begins with a clear rule for a man who vows a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath. He is not to break his word. The phrase about binding his soul shows the seriousness of what he says. He must do what has come from his mouth.
02A young woman’s vow in her father’s houseThe next case concerns a young woman in her father’s house. If her father hears her vow and says nothing that day, the vow stands.
Explanation
The next case concerns a young woman in her father’s house. If her father hears her vow and says nothing that day, the vow stands. If he forbids it on the day he hears it, the vow does not stand, and the text says Yahweh will forgive her.
03A husband may confirm or make void a vowThe passage then gives similar rules for a woman with a husband. If he hears and says nothing that day, her vows stand.
Explanation
The passage then gives similar rules for a woman with a husband. If he hears and says nothing that day, her vows stand. If he forbids them that day, he makes them void, including a rash utterance of her lips, and Yahweh will forgive her. A widow or divorced woman remains responsible for her own vow.
04Silence can establish, and late cancelling brings guiltIf a vow was made in a husband’s house and he heard it without disallowing it, it stood. The text adds that a husband may establish or make void a binding oath to afflict the soul.
Explanation
If a vow was made in a husband’s house and he heard it without disallowing it, it stood. The text adds that a husband may establish or make void a binding oath to afflict the soul. But if he cancels it after the day he heard it, he bears her iniquity. These are called Yahweh’s statutes for such family situations.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does Numbers 30:2 require when someone vows a vow to Yahweh?
Look for the three linked ideas in the verse: not breaking the word, being bound by it, and doing what was spoken.
02In the case of a daughter in her father’s house, what difference does the father’s same-day response make?
Compare the result when he says nothing with the result when he forbids the vow on the day he hears it.
03What warning is given if a husband tries to make a vow void after first hearing it and staying silent?
Notice the contrast between silence establishing the vow and later cancelling it.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Numbers 30:1–16
1Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded.
2When 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,
4and 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.
5But 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.
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,
7and 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.
8But 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,
11and 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.
12But 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.
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 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.
15But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”
16These 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.