Numbers 30:3–8, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Numbers 30:3–8
A Father or Husband May Confirm or Annul a Woman's Vow
A father's silence can bind a daughter's vow
If a woman vows while still in her father's house in her youth, and her father hears and holds his peace, her vow stands. If her father disallows her on the day he hears, the vow is not in force, and the LORD shall forgive her because her father disallowed her.
A husband has the same day-of-hearing power over a wife's bond
If she marries while her vows are still on her, and her husband hears and holds his peace, they stand. If he disallows them on the day he hears, he makes her vow of none effect, and the LORD shall forgive her. The law treats prompt male silence as confirmation and prompt male speech as annulment.
Women in this chapter do vow. That is real agency. Fathers and husbands can cancel those vows on the day they hear them. That is real patriarchal control. The rule does not authorize fathers or husbands today to govern an adult woman's conscience, money, safety, religion, healthcare, or legal rights.
How this should shape us
Do not baptize household veto over a woman's promise. If a community still cares about vows, require informed adult consent and strip relatives of the power to bind or unbind another adult's life, money, body, or faith.
Teach it back
Explain Numbers 30:3–8 in your own words. Include its place in Numbers' movement from Sinai to Moab, both movements within this thought unit, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters disagree about vow types, the relationship of Numbers 6 and 30, adult agency, household authority, historical practice, and later legal reception. The text's male privilege should not be hidden by calling every arrangement protection. For “A Father or Husband May Confirm or Annul a Woman's Vow,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Numbers 30:3–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 30:3–8
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 30:3–8
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 30:3–8
Supports: Vow types, Nazirite relation, patriarchal authority, agency, and limits on modern household control.
TheTorah, “Can a Husband Annul His Wife's Nazirite Vow?,” complete comparison of Numbers 6 and 30, household authority, women, annulment, and later interpretation, applied to Numbers 30:3–8
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 30:3–8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 30:3–8
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Numbers with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, source files dated 2026-08-08
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 30:3–8
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 2
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Moab movement, law, leadership transition, land, war, women, refuge, and compositional framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 2, complete two-page study guide sections on Balaam, Baal Peor, second census, women and inheritance, war with Midian, Transjordan, itinerary, boundaries, Levite and refuge cities, and final inheritance, applied to Numbers 30:3–8
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open gender and legal study
Can a Husband Annul His Wife's Nazirite Vow?
Francis Landy
TheTorah.com, 2018
Supports: Vow types, Nazirite relation, patriarchal authority, agency, and limits on modern household control.
Exact location: TheTorah, “Can a Husband Annul His Wife's Nazirite Vow?,” complete comparison of Numbers 6 and 30, household authority, women, annulment, and later interpretation, applied to Numbers 30:3–8
Open source ↗