Numbers 30:8
in Numbers 30But 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But if her husband disallow her in the day that he heareth it, then he shall make void her vow which is upon her, and the rash utterance of her lips, wherewith she hath bound her soul: and Jehovah will forgive her.
KJV
But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the Lord shall forgive her.
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This verse in Numbers 30
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord
on Numbers 30:3-8
One procedure is written out twice, once for a daughter in her father's house and once for a wife, and both turn on the phrase in the day that he heareth. The power to disallow lasts that day and then closes, so a vow left unchallenged past it stands. Where the father or the husband does disallow it, the text says the Lord shall forgive her, which treats the vow as a real debt remitted rather than as words that never counted. Barnes reads the at all of verse 6 as covering a girl betrothed but not yet married, and Gill allows either the betrothed or the married woman.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The law is the same in case of a wife that soon after becomes a widow, or is put away. Though, if she return to her father's house, she does not therefore so come again under his authority as that he has power to disannul hew vows (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But if her husband disallow her on the day that he heard it,....
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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֠אִם | veim | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בְּי֨וֹם | beyom | on [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שְׁמֹ֣עַ | shemoa' | hears | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| אִישָׁהּ֮ | ʾishah | husband her | H376 → | 1663 times |
| יָנִ֣יא | yani' | he will forbid | H5106 → | 8 times |
| אוֹתָהּ֒ | ʾotah | <obj.> her | H853 → | 10935 times |
| וְהֵפֵ֗ר | vehefer | and he will break | H6565 → | 50 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נִדְרָהּ֙ | nidrah | vow her | H5088 → | 60 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָלֶ֔יהָ | ʾaleiha | [is] on her | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וְאֵת֙ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מִבְטָ֣א | mivta' | [the] rash utterance of | H4008 → | |
| שְׂפָתֶ֔יהָ | sefateiha | lips her | H8193 → | 176 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָסְרָ֖ה | ʾaserah | she has bound | H631 → | 72 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נַפְשָׁ֑הּ | nafshah | self her | H5315 → | 754 times |
| וַיהוָ֖ה | vayahweh | and Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| יִֽסְלַֽח־ | yislach- | he will forgive | H5545 → | 46 times |
| לָֽהּ׃ | lah | <to> <the> her |
וְ֠אִםand if
veimH518 →1069 times
בְּי֨וֹםon [the] day
beyomH3117 →2304 times
שְׁמֹ֣עַhears
shemoa'H8085 →1159 times
אִישָׁהּ֮husband her
ʾishahH376 →1663 times
יָנִ֣יאhe will forbid
yani'H5106 →8 times
אוֹתָהּ֒<obj.> her
ʾotahH853 →10935 times
וְהֵפֵ֗רand he will break
veheferH6565 →50 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נִדְרָהּ֙vow her
nidrahH5088 →60 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָלֶ֔יהָ[is] on her
ʾaleihaH5921 →5755 times
וְאֵת֙and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
מִבְטָ֣א[the] rash utterance of
mivta'H4008 →
שְׂפָתֶ֔יהָlips her
sefateihaH8193 →176 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אָסְרָ֖הshe has bound
ʾaserahH631 →72 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
נַפְשָׁ֑הּself her
nafshahH5315 →754 times
וַיהוָ֖הand Yahweh
vayahwehH3068 →6520 times
יִֽסְלַֽח־he will forgive
yislach-H5545 →46 times
לָֽהּ׃<to> <the> her
lah
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
Genesis 3:16To 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.”
it leads to
- Colossians 3:18
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Titus 2:5
to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
- 1 Corinthians 11:3
But 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.
- 1 Timothy 2:15
Women, however, will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.
- Colossians 3:18
Through
1 Corinthians 14:34Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 2:11–12
A woman must learn in quietness and full submissiveness.
- 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.”
- Numbers 30:3–13
And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge,
- 1 Corinthians 14:35
If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.
- 1 Timothy 2:11–12
About Numbers
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.