Numbers30:1–16

Where the English smooths the original

• וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר The verb is וַיְדַבֵּר (way·ḏabbêr, root dābar) — emphatic, formal “and he spoke / addressed,” in the Piel; the BSB’s flat “said” loses the official, legislative weight. Hebrew syntax is verb-first (the speaking comes before the speaker).
• הַמַּטּ֔וֹת הַמַּטּוֹת (hammaṭṭôṯ) literally means “the staffs / branches” (root maṭṭeh, a thing that extends). A “tribe” is named after the chieftain’s rod — the metaphor of the stem is buried under the English “tribes.”
• הַדָּבָ֔ר הַדָּבָר (haddāḇār) is “the word / the matter / the thing” — the same root that names the book of Deuteronomy’s “words.” The BSB’s “This is what” dissolves the concrete noun: it is the word the LORD commanded, the very category the whole chapter is about (a person’s binding word).

Where the English smooths the original

• לֶאְסֹ֤ר לֶאְסֹר / אִסָּר (le’sōr / ’issār, root ’āsar) literally means “to bind / to yoke / to hitch,” as one harnesses an animal. The BSB’s “to obligate himself by a pledge” is accurate in sense but loses the rope-and-yoke picture: the vow is a self-imposed tether.
• נַפְשׁ֔וֹ נַפְשׁוֹ (nap̄šô) is “his soul / his life / his very self” (nephesh, a breathing creature), not the colorless “himself.” The bond is laid on the nephesh — the whole appetite-bearing life that must then abstain or perform.
• יַחֵ֖ל יַחֵל (yaḥêl, Hifil of ḥālal) does not merely mean “break” — it means “profane / desecrate / pollute.” Benson, Poole, and JFB all insist on it: to break a vow is to render one’s word profane, treating the holy as common (cf. Ps 55:20; 89:34). The BSB’s “break” drains out the sacrilege.
• הַיֹּצֵ֥א מִפִּ֖יו הַיֹּצֵא מִפִּיו is, word for word, “that which goes out from his mouth” — a present participle of yāṣāʼ (“to go forth”) plus peh (“mouth”). The BSB’s “everything he has promised” smooths it; the Hebrew makes the spoken word itself, escaping the lips, the thing that binds.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְאִשָּׁ֕ה וְאִשָּׁה (wə’iššāh) is simply “and a woman.” The chapter pivots from ’îš (man, v. 2) to ’iššāh (woman) — the same consonantal pair, contrasting the man whose word stands and the woman whose word is reviewed.
• בִּנְעֻרֶֽיהָ בִּנְעֻרֶיהָ (bin‘ureyhā, from nāʻûr) is a plural-of-state, “in her youth / her young years” — not a single age but the condition of juvenility. Poole stresses the word is added “by way of addition, or amplification,” not as a restriction; the rabbis fixed it near twelve.
• וְאָסְרָ֥ה וְאָסְרָה (wə’āsərāh, root ’āsar) — “and she binds,” the same yoke-verb as the man’s in v. 2. The grammar grants her the identical capacity to bind her soul; only the review differs, not the reality of the vow.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְשָׁמַ֨ע וְשָׁמַע (wəšāmaʻ, root šāmaʻ) means “hears” with the deep sense of hearing-into / heeding. Cambridge clarifies it does not mean he was present at the vow but that he “comes to hear of it.” The father’s clock starts at knowledge, not at utterance.
• וְהֶחֱרִ֥ישׁ וְהֶחֱרִישׁ (wəheḥĕrîš, Hifil of ḥāraš) literally is “and he keeps silent / holds his peace,” from a root that pictures being deaf / mute. The BSB’s “says nothing” is right, but the Hebrew makes silence an act with legal force: silence here is consent.
• יָקֽוּם / וְקָ֙מוּ֙ The verb is קוּם (qûm, “to rise / stand up”). The vows “rise and stand” — they are made to stand erect, established. The BSB’s “shall stand” is faithful, but the same root qûm runs through the whole chapter as the technical term for a ratified vow (vv. 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12).

Where the English smooths the original

• הֵנִ֨יא הֵנִיא (hênî, Hifil of nûʼ) means “to restrain / forbid / hold back / frustrate / neutralize” — the same rare verb used of the spies who discouraged Israel’s heart (Num 32:7, 9). The BSB’s “prohibits” captures the legal effect; the root carries the force of turning back a thing that was moving forward.
• בְּי֣וֹם שָׁמְעוֹ֒ בְּיוֹם שָׁמְעוֹ is “in the day of his hearing” — an infinitive construct, terse. Benson and Poole press that the window is “the day or time he had for disallowing... not to be reckoned from her vowing, but from his hearing.” The English “on the day he hears about it” keeps the sense but flattens the construct phrase.
• יִֽסְלַח־ יִסְלַח (yislaḥ, root sālaḥ) is the strong word “to forgive / pardon” — used in Scripture almost exclusively of God’s forgiveness. The BSB’s “will absolve” is good legal English; the Hebrew verb is the language of atonement, not mere release. Ellicott: she “would not incur the guilt or punishment.”

Where the English smooths the original

• הָי֤וֹ תִֽהְיֶה֙ לְאִ֔ישׁ הָיוֹ תִהְיֶה לְאִישׁ is, woodenly, “being she shall be to a man” — an infinitive-absolute doubling for emphasis (“if she should indeed come to belong to a man”). Barnes: the doubled “at all” intimates a girl betrothed but not yet actually married. The BSB’s plain “if a woman marries” erases the emphatic construction the old commentators built an argument on.
• מִבְטָ֣א מִבְטָא (miḇṭā) is a rare noun — the Pulpit Commentary notes it “is not found elsewhere” in this exact form — meaning “a rash / thoughtless utterance.” K&D: “gossip of her lips, that which is uttered thoughtlessly or without reflection.” The BSB’s “rash promise” is good; the Hebrew specifically marks the vow as blurted.
• עָלֶ֑יהָ עָלֶיהָ (ʻāleyhā) — “upon her,” the vows are on her like a load she carries into the marriage. K&D renders it “upon herself.” The BSB’s “under a vow” changes the picture from a weight carried to a state under which she stands.

Where the English smooths the original

• אִישָׁ֛הּ אִישָׁהּ (’îšāh) is “her man,” i.e. “her husband” — the very noun ’îš (“man,” v. 2) now bearing a possessive suffix. The same word that named the autonomous vow-maker now names the authority over the woman’s vow; Hebrew uses one term for man and husband.
• וְהֶחֱרִ֣ישׁ וְהֶחֱרִישׁ (wəheḥĕrîš) — again the silence-verb (ḥāraš) from v. 4. The husband’s law is built on the father’s template, word for word; the change of authority (father → husband) does not change the mechanism (hearing → silence = consent).
• וְקָ֣מוּ / יָקֻֽמוּ קוּם (qûm) — “they shall rise/stand,” now masculine plural agreeing with the vows. The ratification-word recurs. Gill: “or she be under obligation to perform them.” Silence has bound her, lawfully, to her own word.

Where the English smooths the original

• יָנִ֣יא יָנִיא (yānî, Hifil of nûʼ) — the same restrain / forbid / neutralize verb as the father’s in v. 5. The husband holds back the vow. The BSB’s “prohibits” renders the effect; the root means he turns it back / makes it of no effect.
• וְהֵפֵ֗ר וְהֵפֵר (wəhêp̄êr, Hifil of pārar) is “and he breaks / annuls / makes-void / shatters.” This is the chapter’s antonym to qûm (“stand”): where silence makes a vow rise, the husband’s word breaks it. The BSB’s “nullifies” is exact in law; the root pictures a thing broken to pieces.
• יִֽסְלַֽח־ יִסְלַח (yislaḥ) — “forgive,” the divine-pardon verb, repeated from v. 5. Even when the broken vow was made in good faith, the LORD forgives. Gill notes the husband “make[s] her vow... of none effect... and the Lord shall forgive her,” excusing her performance.

Where the English smooths the original

• אַלְמָנָ֖ה אַלְמָנָה (’almānāh) is the technical noun “widow.” Standing first in the verse, she heads the one case in the chapter with no reviewing authority — a woman whose word, like the man’s in v. 2, simply stands.
• וּגְרוּשָׁ֑ה וּגְרוּשָׁה (ūḡərūšāh, passive participle of gāraš, “to drive out”) literally is “and a driven-out one” — a woman expelled by divorce. The BSB’s neutral “divorced woman” loses the verb’s blunt picture of being cast out from the marriage-house.
• יָק֥וּם עָלֶֽיהָ יָקוּם עָלֶיהָ — “it shall stand upon her.” The same qûm (“stand”) of ratification, but now with no condition: there is no father, no husband to hear and be silent. Her vow rises and rests on her alone. The BSB’s “is binding on her” is the legal upshot of the standing-verb.

Where the English smooths the original

• בֵּ֥ית אִישָׁ֖הּ בֵּית אִישָׁהּ — “the house of her husband,” set against v. 3’s “her father’s house.” The setting localizes the case: the fully married woman who vows while already under her husband’s roof. The BSB’s order “a woman in her husband’s house” keeps the contrast.
• נָדָ֑רָה נָדָרָה (nāḏārāh, perfect of nādar) — “she vowed,” a completed act inside the marriage. This third case differs from vv. 6–8 (a vow brought into marriage) by timing: here the vow arises during it. Poole: “thus this law is sufficiently distinguished from that above.”
• בִּשְׁבֻעָֽה בִּשְׁבֻעָה (bišḇuʻāh, from šəḇûʻāh, “a sworn thing”) — “with an oath.” The bond is explicitly sworn. K&D noted vows of abstinence were “as a rule, bound... by an oath.” The BSB’s “with an oath” is exact; the noun shares the root with “seven” — to swear is to bind sevenfold.

Where the English smooths the original

• וְהֶחֱרִ֣שׁ וְהֶחֱרִשׁ (wəheḥĕriš) — the silence-verb (ḥāraš) once more. This verse pairs it with an explicit negative: he was silent and did not restrain her. Where v. 4 implied consent from silence, here the law spells out both halves — passive silence and absence of veto.
• לֹ֥א הֵנִ֖יא לֹא הֵנִיא (lō hênî) — “he did not restrain,” the negated veto-verb of v. 5. The double formula (silent + did-not-forbid) makes the ratification airtight. The BSB’s “and does not prohibit her” renders it; the Hebrew leaves no ambiguity about what counts as consent.
• וְקָ֙מוּ֙ וְקָמוּ (wəqāmū) — “and they stand” (qûm). The ratification-verb closes the case as it did for the father (v. 4) and the betrothed (v. 7): an unopposed vow rises and stands.

Where the English smooths the original

• הָפֵר֩ ... יָפֵ֨ר הָפֵר ... יָפֵר (hāp̄êr ... yāp̄êr) is the infinitive-absolute + finite verb of pārar doubled for intensity — “if he utterly annuls / breaks them.” The BSB’s plain “nullifies” drops the emphatic doubling that the Hebrew uses for a decisive, total voiding.
• מוֹצָ֨א שְׂפָתֶ֧יהָ מוֹצָא שְׂפָתֶיהָ (môṣāʼ śəp̄āṯeyhā) is, literally, “the going-forth of her lips” — that which issues from the mouth (cf. Deut 23:23, the same idiom of a vow as “the utterance of your lips”). The BSB’s “nothing that came from her lips” keeps the image; the noun môṣāʼ names the spoken word as something that has gone out and could be recalled only by authority.
• יָק֑וּם יָקוּם (yāqūm) — the standing-verb, here negated: it shall not stand. The chapter’s two poles, qûm (stand) and pārar (break), meet in one verse: the husband broke it, so it does not stand.

Where the English smooths the original

• יְקִימֶ֖נּוּ ... יְפֵרֶֽנּוּ יְקִימֶנּוּ ... יְפֵרֶנּוּ sets the chapter’s two governing verbs face to face: yəqîmennû (Hifil of qûm, “he may make it stand / confirm it”) and yəp̄êrennû (Hifil of pārar, “he may break / annul it”). The BSB’s “confirm or nullify” is exact; the Hebrew names the whole legal apparatus in two words.
• לְעַנֹּ֣ת נָ֑פֶשׁ לְעַנֹּת נָפֶשׁ (ləʻannōṯ nāp̄eš, Piel of ʻānāh + nephesh) is, literally, “to afflict / humble the soul” — the very phrase used of the fast on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29; Num 29:7). The BSB’s “to deny herself” modernizes it; the Hebrew is the technical language of self-affliction / fasting.

Where the English smooths the original

• הַחֲרֵשׁ֩ יַחֲרִ֨ישׁ הַחֲרֵשׁ יַחֲרִישׁ (haḥărêš yaḥărîš) doubles the silence-verb (ḥāraš) — infinitive absolute + finite — “if he keeps utterly silent.” The BSB’s “says nothing” loses the emphatic construction: this is sustained, deliberate silence, day after day.
• מִיּ֣וֹם אֶל־יוֹם֒ מִיּוֹם אֶל־יוֹם (mîyôm ’el-yôm) is “from day to day,” i.e. letting more than the lawful single day pass. Geneva: “And warn her not the same day that he hears it, as in Nu 30:8.” The window to object was one day; silence past it confirms.
• וְהֵקִים֙ ... הֵקִ֣ים וְהֵקִים ... הֵקִים (wəhêqîm ... hêqîm, Hifil of qûm) — “then he has made them stand / confirmed them.” Silence is here reckoned as an active establishing: by saying nothing past the day, the husband causes the vow to stand. The BSB’s “he confirms” renders the causative.

Where the English smooths the original

• הָפֵ֥ר יָפֵ֛ר הָפֵר יָפֵר (hāp̄êr yāp̄êr) — once more the doubled pārar, “if he utterly annuls them.” The emphasis underscores a belated, decisive voiding — after he had already let the vow stand by silence.
• אַחֲרֵ֣י שָׁמְע֑וֹ אַחֲרֵי שָׁמְעוֹ (’aḥărê šāmʻô) — “after his hearing.” The whole verse hangs on ’aḥărê (“after”): not on the day of hearing (lawful), but some day after (too late). Benson: “if after that time he shall hinder them, which he ought not to do.”
• וְנָשָׂ֖א אֶת־עֲוֺנָֽהּ וְנָשָׂא אֶת־עֲוֺנָהּ (wənāśāʼ ’eṯ-ʻăwōnāh) is, literally, “and he shall lift/carry her iniquity” — the verb nāśāʼ (“to lift, bear”), the same used of bearing sin. The BSB’s “he will bear her iniquity” is exact; the guilt of the broken vow is transferred onto the one who broke faith by annulling too late.

Where the English smooths the original

• הַֽחֻקִּ֗ים הַחֻקִּים (haḥuqqîm, plural of ḥōq) are “the statutes / engraved decrees” — from a root meaning to inscribe / cut in. The BSB’s “statutes” is right; the word frames these vow-rules as fixed, engraved law, not advice.
• צִוָּ֤ה צִוָּה (ṣiwwāh, Piel of ṣāwāh) — “commanded,” the very verb that opened the unit (v. 1, “the word that YHWH has commanded”). The chapter closes its frame: divine command brackets the whole of human vowing.
• בֵּ֥ין ... בֵּֽין בֵּין ... בֵּין (bên ... bên) — “between... and between,” the relational preposition repeated. The law is summarized not as rules about vows but as statutes between persons: between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter. The BSB’s “concerning the relationship between” expands what the terse Hebrew states by mere juxtaposition.