4. Mooseksen kirjaLuku 30

Tämä luku ei ole vielä saatavilla suomeksi — näytetään alkuperäinen teksti.

+ Toissijainen teksti Alkuteksti ← Edellinen Seuraava →Osallistu

So Moses told the Israelites everything just as the LORD had commanded him.

Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: This is what the LORD has commanded.

When a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath binding himself by a pledge, he must not break his word. He must do everything he has said.

When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to the LORD or binds herself by a pledge,

and her father hears about her vow and the pledge by which she has bound herself, and he says nothing to her, then all her vows stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself stands.

But if her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, then none of her vows or the pledges by which she has bound herself will stand. The LORD will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.

If she marries while under a vow, or under some rash promise from her lips by which she has bound herself,

and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears, then her vows stand, and the pledges by which she has bound herself stand.

But if her husband forbids her on the day he hears of it, he nullifies the vow that binds her and the rash promise of her lips by which she bound herself, and the LORD will forgive her.

Any vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything by which she has bound herself, is binding on her.

If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or binds herself by a pledge under oath,

and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself stands.

But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether vows or pledges binding herself, will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will forgive her.

Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself.

But if her husband says nothing to her about it from one day to the next, then he confirms all her vows or all the pledges binding her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her on the day he hears of them.

If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears of them, then he bears her guilt.

These are the statutes the LORD commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife, and a father and his young daughter still living in his house.

Haku

Yhteenveto2

Luku 30

Main Theme: Rules concerning vows (נֶדֶר) and oaths, with special focus on women's vows under male authority.

Content: A man who makes a vow to the Lord must fulfill it without exception. For unmarried women in their father's house and for married women, the vow stands if the father or husband remains silent on the day he hears about it, but it may be annulled if he objects on that same day. Widows and divorced women are fully responsible for their own vows. If a husband annuls a vow after having waited, he himself bears her guilt.

Key Terms/Images:

Vow (נֶדֶר): A binding commitment to God that must be fulfilled.
To remain silent (הֶחֱרִישׁ): Tacit consent that confirms the validity of the vow.
To annul (הֵפֵר): The right of male authority to cancel a woman's vow.
The same day: The deadline by which an objection must be made in order to be valid.

Historiallinen konteksti

Historical and Cultural Context for Numbers 30

Events and Customs

This chapter deals with vows (neder) and binding obligations (issar), which were central elements in Israelite society. A vow to God was a voluntary, yet extremely serious commitment—breaking such a vow was regarded as sin against the Lord Himself. Vows could involve giving gifts to the sanctuary, abstaining from certain foods or drinks, or committing oneself to specific actions.

The patriarchal family structure described here—in which a father has authority over an unmarried daughter and a husband over his wife—reflects the broader social reality of the ancient Near East. The chapter grants women a degree of religious autonomy that was unusual for the time, in that their vows were actually valid unless explicitly annulled on the same day the husband or father heard about them.

Key Terms

The Hebrew verb heni in verses 6, 9, and 12 means "to hinder" or "to annul" and is used specifically regarding the cancellation of a vow. The expression mivta sefateha ("the utterance of her lips") in verses 7 and 9 emphasizes the oral nature of vows—in a culture without written contracts for ordinary people, the spoken word was legally binding.

The term le'annot nafesh ("to afflict oneself") in verse 14 refers to self-imposed vows of abstinence, likely fasting or other forms of asceticism. This is the same expression used concerning the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29), showing that these vows often concerned personal piety and self-discipline.

Henkilöt2

Jacob1 Moses1

Kaikki: henkilöt →

Avainsanat7

Promise — A binding commitment or vow that a person makes to God, often connected with religious acts and service.
Authority — The right and power to decide, control, and govern over something or someone; in this case, it refers to the head of the household and his influence over vows made by family members.
Woman — An adult female person, discussed in the chapter in connection with vows and their validity based on her civil status and the authority figure in her life.
Father — A male parent or head of a family who, in this context, has the authority to approve or annul his daughter's vows.
Husband — The male partner in a marriage who has the authority to approve or annul his wife's vows according to Numbers 30.
Annul — To declare something invalid or without effect; in this case, it refers to the process by which a father or husband may cancel a vow made by a woman.
Approve — To accept or permit something; in this case, it refers to a father's or husband's right to consent to a vow made by a woman.