Numbers 30:6 (WEB)
“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,
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Numbers 30:6–8 (KJV)
6 And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; 7 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. 8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.
Key words
- וְהֶחֱרִישׁ לָהּvehecherish lah · Hebrew
- 'and held his peace at her' — the husband's silence on hearing the vow confirms it; it then stands.
- יָנִיאyani · Hebrew
- 'disallowed' — annul; the husband may cancel the vow only on the day he hears it.
Why it matters
A married woman's vow stands if her husband hears it and says nothing; he may annul it only when he first hears of it. Pitre reads Numbers 30 as the legal framework of Mary's vow (pp 97–100): the chapter regulates vows for three kinds of women — the unmarried (vv. 3–5), the married (vv. 6–8, 13–15) and widows or divorcees (vv. 9–12) — and such vows, once confirmed, are lifelong. Joseph, hearing of Mary's vow at betrothal and accepting it, was then bound to honour it.