Laws Concerning Vows

(Matthew 5:33-37)

1And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD has commanded. 2If a man vow a vow to the LORD, or swear 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.

3If a woman also vow a vow to the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father's house in her youth; 4And her father hear her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her; then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand. 5But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears; not any of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

6And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, with which she bound her soul; 7And 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 with which she bound her soul shall stand. 8But 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, with which she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.

9But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, with which they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. 10And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath; 11And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she bound her soul shall stand. 12But if her husband has utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband has made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.

13Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. 14But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establishes all her vows, or all her bonds, which are on her: he confirms them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. 15But if he shall any ways make them void after that he has heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.

16These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father's house.