1Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of Israel. He said, ‘Here is what the LORD commands.2Suppose a man makes a special promise to the LORD. Or suppose he gives his word to do something. Then he must keep his promise. He must do everything he said he would do.3‘Suppose a young woman is still living in her father’s house. She makes a special promise to the LORD. Or she gives her word to do something.4Suppose her father hears about her promise. And he doesn’t say anything to her about it. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do.5But suppose her father doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised or agreed to do. The LORD will set her free. He’ll do it because her father hasn’t allowed her to keep her promises.6‘Suppose she gets married after she makes a special promise. Or she gets married after agreeing to do something without thinking it through.7Suppose her husband hears about what she did. And he doesn’t say anything to her about it. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do.8But suppose her husband doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised. She doesn’t have to do what she agreed to do without thinking it through. The LORD will set her free.9‘Suppose a widow makes a special promise. Or suppose she gives her word to do something. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do. The same rules apply to a woman who has been divorced.10‘Suppose a woman living with her husband makes a special promise. Or she gives her word to do something.11Suppose her husband hears about what she did. He doesn’t say anything to her about it. And he doesn’t try to stop her from keeping her promises. Then she must keep all of them. She must do what she agreed to do.12But suppose her husband doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised. She doesn’t have to do what she agreed to do. Her husband has kept her from doing what she said she would do. The LORD will set her free.13Her husband can let her keep any special promise she makes. Or he can refuse to let her keep it. Suppose she gives her word not to eat anything. Then her husband can let her keep her promise. Or he can refuse to let her keep it.14But suppose day after day her husband doesn’t say anything to her about what she did. Then he lets her keep all her promises. He lets her do everything she agreed to do. That’s because he didn’t say anything to her when he heard about what she had done.15But suppose some time after he hears about her promises he doesn’t let her keep them. Then she will be guilty. But he will bear the consequences for her guilt.’16These are the rules the LORD gave Moses about a man and his wife. And these are the rules the LORD gave about a father and his young daughter still living at home.
3“If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house in her youth,4and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand.5But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her.6“If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, (Ps 56:12)7and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.8But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. And the Lord will forgive her. (Nu 30:6; Nu 30:12)9(But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.)10And if she vowed in her husband’s house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath,11and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand.12But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will forgive her. (Nu 30:8)13Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself,[1] her husband may establish,[2] or her husband may make void.14But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them.15But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her iniquity.” (Le 5:1)16These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father’s house.