Vow Regulations

Vow Regulations set out when a vow to the LORD becomes binding and who may annul it. They require a man to fulfill his vow, but make the force of a woman’s vow dependent, in defined household circumstances, on the response of her father or husband; silence confirms the obligation, while delayed annulment makes the husband answerable for the resulting guilt.

General Rule and Household Authority

Moses delivers the statutes to the heads of the tribes. A man who vows to the LORD or binds himself by an oath must not break his word: he is to do what he has spoken. The law thus treats the vow as an obligation created through speech, not as a private intention that can simply be withdrawn.

For a daughter still in her father’s house and youth, the father may annul her vow on the day he hears of it. If he remains silent, both the vow and any bond by which she has bound herself stand; if he disallows them that day, they do not stand, and the LORD forgives her. The decisive moment is the father’s first hearing and response.

Marriage, Silence, and Liability

A woman married while her vow remains in force is likewise subject to her husband’s response when he hears of it. If he holds his peace, the vow stands; if he disallows it on the day he hears, it is void, and the LORD forgives her. The rule applies both to a vow and to a clear utterance that binds her.

The husband’s silence is treated as consent with legal force. If he says nothing from day to day after hearing the vow, he causes it to stand because he did not disallow it when informed. If he later attempts to annul it after allowing it to stand, he bears her iniquity. The text therefore attaches responsibility not only to an explicit decision but also to the timing of that decision.

Widows, Divorced Women, and the Limits of Annulment

A widow’s vow, and a divorced woman’s vow, stands against her; the text names no father or husband with authority to annul it. The contrast marks household status as central to the law’s allocation of power: a father or husband may invalidate certain vows at the moment of hearing, whereas these women’s vows remain binding.

The statutes conclude by identifying their scope as rules between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter while she is young and in her father’s house. Read alongside the general command that a person fulfill what has been vowed, the exceptions are carefully delimited by relationship and response. The provisions make speech binding while placing specified forms of women’s vow-making under male household authority.