Numbers 30

1 Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded.

And he said to the princes of the tribes of the children of Israel: This is the word that the Lord hath commanded:

2 When a man vows a vow to the LORD, 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.

If any man make a vow to the Lord, or bind himself by an oath: he shall not make his word void but shall fulfill all that he promised.

3 “Also, when a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father’s house, in her youth,

If a woman vow any thing, and bind herself by an oath, being in her father’s house, and but yet a girl in age: if her father knew the vow that she hath promised, and the oath wherewith she hath bound her soul, and held his peace, she shall be bound by the vow:

4 and 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.

Whatsoever she promised and swore, she shall fulfill in deed.

5 But 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. The LORD will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.

But if her father, immediately as soon as he heard it, gainsaid it, both her vows and her oaths shall be void, neither shall she be bound to what she promised, because her father hath gainsaid it.

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,

If she have a husband, and shall vow any thing, and the word once going out of her mouth shall bind her soul by an oath:

7 and 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.

The day that her husband shall hear it, and not gainsay it, she shall be bound to the vow, and shall give whatsoever she promised.

8 But 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. The LORD will forgive her.

But if as soon as he heareth he gainsay it, and make her promises and the words wherewith she had bound her soul of no effect: the Lord 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.

The widow, and she that is divorced, shall fulfill whatsoever they vow.

10 “If she vowed in her husband’s house or bound her soul by a bond with an oath,

If the wife in the house of her husband, hath bound herself by vow and by oath,

11 and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her and did not disallow her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge with which she bound her soul shall stand.

If her husband hear, and hold his peace, and doth not disallow the promise, she shall accomplish whatsoever she had promised.

12 But 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. The LORD will forgive her.

But if forthwith he gainsay it, she shall not be bound by the promise: because her husband gainsaid it, and the Lord will be merciful to her.

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

If she vow and bind herself by oath, to afflict her soul by fasting, or abstinence from other things, it shall depend on the will of her husband, whether she shall do it, or not do it.

14 But 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.

But if the husband hearing it hold his peace, and defer the declaring his mind till another day: whatsoever she had vowed and promised, she shall fulfill: because immediately as he heard it, he held his peace.

15 But if he makes them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.”

But if he gainsay it after that he knew it, he shall bear her iniquity.

16 These are the statutes which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father’s house.

These are the laws which the Lord appointed to Moses between the husband and the wife, between the father and the daughter that is as yet but a girl in age, or that abideth in her father’s house.