Numbers - The Old Testament

¹ Moses told the Israelites exactly what Yahweh had ordered him.

² Moses spoke to the tribal leaders of the Israelites and said, 'This is what Yahweh has ordered:

³ "If a man makes a vow to Yahweh or a formal pledge under oath, he must not break his word: whatever he promises by word of mouth he must do.

⁴ "If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh or a formal pledge during her youth, while she is still in her father's house,

⁵ and if her father hears about this vow or pledge made by her and says nothing to her, her vow, whatever it may be, will be binding, and the pledge she has taken, whatever it may be, will be binding.

⁶ But if her father on the day he learns of it expresses his disapproval of it, then none of the vows or pledges she has taken will be binding. Yahweh will not hold her to it, since her father has expressed his disapproval.

⁷ "If, being bound by vows or by a pledge voiced without due reflection, she then marries,

⁸ and if her husband hears of it but says nothing on the day he learns of it, her vows will be binding and the pledges she has taken will be binding.

⁹ But if on the day he learns of it he expresses his disapproval to her, this will annul the vow that she has made or the pledge that binds her, voiced without due reflection. Yahweh will not hold her to it.

¹⁰ "The vow of a widow or a divorced woman and all pledges taken by her are binding on her.

¹¹ "If she has made a vow or taken a pledge under oath while in her husband's house,

¹² and if when the husband learns of it he says nothing to her and does not express disapproval to her, then the vow, whatever it is, will be binding, and the pledge, whatever it is, will be binding.

¹³ But if the husband when he hears of it annuls it on the day he learns of it, no undertaking of hers, be it vow or pledge, will be binding. Since the husband has annulled it, Yahweh will not hold her to it.

¹⁴ "Every vow or oath that is binding on the wife may be endorsed or annulled by the husband.

¹⁵ "If by the following day the husband has said nothing to her, it means that he endorses her vow, whatever it may be, or her pledge, whatever it may be. He endorses them if he says nothing on the day he learns of them.

¹⁶ But if, having learnt of them, he annuls them later, he will bear the consequences for his wife's guilt." '

¹⁷ Such were the laws which Yahweh prescribed to Moses, concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter while still young and living in her father's home.