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Numbers 30 Bible study: He shall not break his word
A vow was words that became a bond: "He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth" (30:2). For a daughter or a wife, the day her father or husband heard decided it, and silence said yes (30:14); if he forbade it, "The LORD will forgive her" (30:5). And Jesus took up the law of vows: "perform to the Lord your vows" (Matthew 5:33).
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“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.”
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“In Numbers 30, a husband who says nothing on the day he hears his wife's vow establishes it.”
Is that in Numbers 30, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
"All that proceeds out of his mouth"
The chapter before ends with offerings brought "in addition to your vows and your free will offerings" (29:39). This one is about the vows themselves, and Moses speaks it "to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel" (30:1). The rule for a man takes one verse: "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" (30:2). The vow is made "to the LORD" (30:2), and the verse gives no way to undo it. What he said, he does.
Where it leads to Jesus
Perform to the Lord your vows
Numbers 30:2leads toMatthew 5:33
Jesus quoted the law of vows: "Again you have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’" (Matthew 5:33). This chapter gives that law to the one who vows "to the LORD": "he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth" (30:2). Jesus doesn't name Numbers 30, and his words aren't worded as 30:2 is; Deuteronomy 23:21-23 gives the same law.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 30
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 30 is waiting in Favor
- The day he hears
- "Shall stand against her"
- Too late to take it back
- What goes out of the lips
- Keeping a word that costs
- 13 questions as you read
- 11 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
אִסָּרissarsay ee-SAR
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "bond, binding obligation". Strong's: "an obligation or vow (of abstinence)". A man may swear "an oath to bind his soul with a bond" (30:2): bind is its verb, asar, the everyday word for tying up ("bound him before their eyes", Genesis 42:24), which Brown-Driver-Briggs also lists "of obligation of oath or vow". The WEB gives the noun as "bond" (30:2, 30:10, 30:12), "pledge" (30:3, 30:4, 30:5, 30:7, 30:11, 30:14) and "binding" (30:13). The Hebrew Bible uses this noun eleven times, and all eleven are in this chapter.
For your group
Numbers 30 Bible study questions
- 1"He shall not break his word" (30:2). Is there a promise you've made, to God or to someone else, that you've let slip? What would keeping it look like this week?
- 2"He has established them, because he said nothing to her in the day that he heard them" (30:14). Where might your silence be saying yes to something?
- 3Ecclesiastes says, "Don’t allow your mouth to lead you into sin" (Ecclesiastes 5:6). How do you weigh a promise before you make it, rather than after?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 30 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home