Numbers 30:13
in Numbers 30Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow or any sworn pledge to deny herself.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
KJV
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.
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This verse in Numbers 30
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA promise to man is a bond upon the estate, but a promise to God is a bond upon the soul. Our sacramental vows, by which we are bound to no more than what was before our duty, and which neither father nor husband can disannul, are bonds upon the soul, and by them we must feel ourselves bound out from all sin and bound up to the whole will of God.
This site's exposition
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul
on Numbers 30:13-16
To afflict the soul is the phrase Leviticus 16:29 and 23:27 use of the day of atonement, so the vows in view here include fasting and self denial. Verse 14 makes silence an act, since a husband who says nothing from day to day confirms what his wife bound herself to, and 1 Samuel 1:21-23 shows Elkanah doing that with Hannah's vow. Verse 15 puts the price of a late annulment on the man in four words, he shall bear her iniquity, so the guilt of the unkept vow moves to him. The closing verse holds the whole statute to two relationships, a man and his wife and a father and his daughter in her youth, and Numbers 6:2 had already opened the Nazarite vow to a woman.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul,....
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.”
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
EVERY VOW, AND EVERY BINDING OATH TO AFFLICT THE SOUL, [HER HUSBAND MAY ESTABLISH IT, AND HER HUSBAND MAY MAKE IT VOID]. “Since He had said [in the preceding verses] that a husband may annul [his wife’s vows], I might think that this includes all her vows!
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”)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| נֵ֛דֶר | neder | vow | H5088 → | 60 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| שְׁבֻעַ֥ת | shevuat | oath of | H7621 → | 30 times |
| אִסָּ֖ר | ʾisar | obligation | H632 → | 11 times |
| לְעַנֹּ֣ת | leanot | to humble | H6031 → | 82 times |
| נָ֑פֶשׁ | nafesh | self | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אִישָׁ֥הּ | ʾishah | husband her | H376 → | 1663 times |
| יְקִימֶ֖נּוּ | yekimenu | he will confirm it | H6965 → | 628 times |
| וְאִישָׁ֥הּ | veishah | and husband her | H376 → | 1663 times |
| יְפֵרֶֽנּוּ׃ | yeferenu | he will break it | H6565 → | 50 times |
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
נֵ֛דֶרvow
nederH5088 →60 times
וְכָל־and every
vekholH3605 →5413 times
שְׁבֻעַ֥תoath of
shevuatH7621 →30 times
אִסָּ֖רobligation
ʾisarH632 →11 times
לְעַנֹּ֣תto humble
leanotH6031 →82 times
נָ֑פֶשׁself
nafeshH5315 →754 times
אִישָׁ֥הּhusband her
ʾishahH376 →1663 times
יְקִימֶ֖נּוּhe will confirm it
yekimenuH6965 →628 times
וְאִישָׁ֥הּand husband her
veishahH376 →1663 times
יְפֵרֶֽנּוּ׃he will break it
yeferenuH6565 →50 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezra 8:21And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 20:3
Jehoshaphat was alarmed and set his face to seek the LORD. And he proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
- Joel 1:14
Consecrate a fast; proclaim a solemn assembly! Gather the elders and all the residents of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
- Isaiah 30:21
And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
- 1 Samuel 7:6
When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted, and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged…
- 2 Chronicles 20:3
Through
1 Corinthians 11:3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
it leads to
- Genesis 3:16
To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Colossians 1:18
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
- Colossians 3:18
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- Genesis 3:16
Through
Psalms 35:13Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
it leads to
- Psalms 69:10–11
I wept and fasted, but it brought me reproach.
- Psalms 69:10–11
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.