Making Promises to the Lord
1 The Lord told Moses to say to Israel's tribal leaders:
2 When one of you men makes a promise to the Lord, you must keep your word.
3 Suppose a young woman who is still living with her parents makes a promise to the Lord. 4 If her father hears about it and says nothing, she must keep her promise. 5 But if he hears about it and objects, then she no longer has to keep her promise. The Lord will forgive her, because her father did not agree with the promise.
6-7 Suppose a woman makes a promise to the Lord and then gets married. If her husband later hears about the promise but says nothing, she must do what she said, whether she meant it or not. 8 But if her husband hears about the promise and objects, she no longer has to keep it, and the Lord will forgive her.
9 Widows and divorced women must keep every promise they make to the Lord.
10 Suppose a married woman makes a promise to the Lord. 11 If her husband hears about the promise and says nothing, she must do what she said. 12 But if he hears about the promise and does object, she no longer has to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her husband would not allow her to keep the promise. 13 Her husband has the final say about any promises she makes to the Lord. 14 If her husband hears about a promise and says nothing about it for a whole day, she must do what she said—since he did not object, the promise must be kept. 15 But if he waits until the next day to stop her from keeping her promise, he is the one who must be punished.
16 These are the laws that the Lord gave Moses about husbands and wives, and about young daughters who still live at home.
Rules about Vows
1 Moses gave the following instructions to the leaders of the tribes of Israel. 2 When a man makes a vow to give something to the Lord or takes an oath to abstain from something, he must not break his promise, but must do everything that he said he would.
3 When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to give something to the Lord or promises to abstain from something, 4 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her father raises an objection when he hears about it. 5 But if her father forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her father refused to let her keep it.
6 If an unmarried woman makes a vow, whether deliberately or carelessly, or promises to abstain from something, and then marries, 7 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it. 8 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her.
9 A widow or a divorced woman must keep every vow she makes and every promise to abstain from something.
10 If a married woman makes a vow or promises to abstain from something, 11 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it. 12 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her husband prevented her from keeping her vow. 13 Her husband has the right to affirm or to annul any vow or promise that she has made. 14 But if, by the day after he hears of the vow, he has raised no objection, she must do everything that she has vowed or promised. He has affirmed the vow by not objecting on the day he heard of it. 15 But if he later annuls the vow, he must suffer the consequences for the failure to fulfill the vow.
16 These are the rules that the Lord gave Moses concerning vows made by an unmarried woman living in her father's house or by a married woman.