Numbers 30:3
in Numbers 30And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Also when a woman voweth a vow unto Jehovah, and bindeth herself by a bond, being in her father’s house, in her youth,
KJV
If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth;
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This verse in Numbers 30
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Being in her father’s house in her youth - It was not ordinarily until her betrothal or marriage, that the female passed (some suppose by purchase) from the power of her father to that of her husband.
This site's exposition
if a woman in her father’s house
on Numbers 30:3-8
One procedure is written twice, for a daughter and a wife, and both turn on "the day he hears about it". After that day an unchallenged vow stands, and a prohibited vow is released: "The LORD will absolve her".
The record, by era
The Reformation1 voice
Hence we gather that all those who are possessed of power do not do their duty unless they frankly and discreetly express their opposition whenever anything displeases them; since their connivance is a kind of tacit approbation.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The judgment of a father or guardian on the vow of any under his charge might be given either by an expressed approval or by silence, which was to be construed as approval. But in the case of a husband who, after silence from day to day, should ultimately disapprove or hinder his wife's vow, the sin of non-performance was to be imputed to him and not to her [Nu 30:15].
In her youth - That is, say the rabbins, under twelve years of age; and under thirteen in case of a young man. Young persons of this age were considered to be under the authority of their parents, and had consequently no power to vow away the property of another. A married woman was in the same circumstances, because she was under the authority of her husband. If however the parents or the husband heard of the vow, and objected to it in the same day in which they heard of it, (Num 30:5), then the vow was annulled; or, if having heard of it, they held their peace, this was considered a ratification of the vow. A rash vow was never to be kept; “for,” says Philo, and common sense and justice say the same, “he who commits an unjust action because of his vow adds one crime to another, 1. By making an unlawful vow; 2. By doing an unlawful action.”
How the passage was read
On Numbers 30:1-16On Numbers 30:1-16
Vows, oaths, and the words that bind
This chapter is the Torah's law of vows: “he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.” The tradition distinguished the neder, a vow that makes a thing forbidden or dedicated (“this property is korban,” that is, an offering, barred from ordinary use as if given to God), from the shevuah, an oath that binds the person to do or not do something. Around both grew a careful case law: the Mishnah records the substitute formulas people used for korban (konam, konach, konas, Nedarim 1:2), and the tradition itself admitted how far this law outran its text: the rules for releasing vows “fly in the air and have nothing to support them” (Chagigah 1:8).
Two Gospel collisions stand on this chapter. The korban vow that could lock a son's goods away from his own parents is what Jesus confronts in Mark 7:11. And the oath casuistry He attacks in Matthew 5:33-37 and 23:16-22 grew from the practice of swearing by substitutes (heaven, earth, Jerusalem, the Temple) to avoid God's name; the Mishnah itself records that one who administers an oath “in the name of heaven and in the name of earth” leaves the swearer exempt (Shevuot 4:13), exactly the graded-honesty loophole Jesus abolishes with “let your yes be yes.”
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Nedarim 1:2 (the korban substitute formulas) · Mishnah Shevuot 4:13 (an oath by heaven and earth does not bind) · Mishnah Chagigah 1:8 (vow-release “flies in the air”)
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִשָּׁ֕ה | veishah | and a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִדֹּ֥ר | tidor | she will vow | H5087 → | 31 times |
| נֶ֖דֶר | neder | a vow | H5088 → | 60 times |
| לַיהוָ֑ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְאָסְרָ֥ה | veaserah | and she will bind | H631 → | 72 times |
| אִסָּ֛ר | ʾisar | an obligation | H632 → | 11 times |
| בְּבֵ֥ית | beveit | in [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אָבִ֖יהָ | ʾaviha | father her | H1 → | 1212 times |
| בִּנְעֻרֶֽיהָ׃ | binureiha | in youth<s> her | H5271 → |
וְאִשָּׁ֕הand a woman
veishahH802 →781 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
תִדֹּ֥רshe will vow
tidorH5087 →31 times
נֶ֖דֶרa vow
nederH5088 →60 times
לַיהוָ֑הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְאָסְרָ֥הand she will bind
veaserahH631 →72 times
אִסָּ֛רan obligation
ʾisarH632 →11 times
בְּבֵ֥יתin [the] house of
beveitH1004 →2046 times
אָבִ֖יהָfather her
ʾavihaH1 →1212 times
בִּנְעֻרֶֽיהָ׃in youth<s> her
binureihaH5271 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).