translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: NUM

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “heads.”


text: Heb “This is the word which.”


text: The legal construction states the class to which the law applies, and then lays down the condition: “men [man] – if….”


text: The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative construction to express this: “a man if he vows a vow.”


text: The expression is “swear an oath” ( הִשָּׁבַע שְׁבֻעָה , hishava ’ shÿvu ’ ah ). The vow ( נֵדֶר , neder ) was a promise to donate something of oneself or one’s substance to the Lord . The solemn oath seals the vow before the Lord , perhaps with sacrifice. The vocabulary recalls Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech and the naming of Beer Sheba with the word (see ).


text: The Hebrew text has לֶאְסֹר אִסָּר ( le ’ sor ’ issar ), meaning “to take a binding obligation.” This is usually interpreted to mean a negative vow, i.e., the person attempts to abstain from something that is otherwise permissible. It might involve fasting, or abstaining from marital sex, but it might also involve some goal to be achieved, and the abstaining from distractions until the vow is fulfilled (see ). The נֶדֶר ( neder ) may have been more for religious matters, and the אִסָּר more for social concerns, but this cannot be documented with certainty.


text: Heb “according to all that goes out of his mouth.”


text: The qualification comes at the end of the verse, and simply says “in her youth.”


text: The Hebrew text just has “in her father’s house” and not “who is still living,” but that is the meaning of the line.


text: The intent of this expression is that he does not object to the vow.


text: The verb קוּם ( qum ) is best translated “stand” here, but the idea with it is that what she vows is established as a genuine oath with the father’s approval (or acquiescence).


text: The idiom is “in the day of,” but it is used in place of a preposition before the infinitive construct with its suffixed subjective genitive. The clause is temporal.


text: The Hebrew “all will not stand” is best rendered “none will stand.”


text: The verb has often been translated “forgive” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but that would suggest a sin that needed forgiving. The idea of “release from obligation” is better; the idea is like that of having a debt “forgiven” or “retired.” In other words, she is free from the vow she had made. The Lord will not hold the woman responsible to do what she vowed.


text: Heb “and her vows are upon her.” It may be that the woman gets married while her vows are still unfulfilled.


text: The Hebrew text indicates that this would be some impetuous vow that she uttered with her lips, a vow that her husband, whether new or existing, would not approve of. Several translate it “a binding obligation rashly uttered.”


text: The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav ( ו ) consecutive from the verb פָּרַר ( parar , “to annul”). The verb functions here as the equivalent of an imperfect tense; here it is the apodosis following the conditional clause – if this is the case, then this is what will happen.


text: Heb “which [she is] under it.”


text: The Hebrew text says her vow “shall stand against her.” In other words, she must fulfill, or bear the consequences of, whatever she vowed.


text: The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.


text: Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”


text: The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת ( lÿ ’ annot , “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.


text: Heb “or her husband can nullify.”


text: The sentence uses the infinitive absolute to strengthen the idea.


text: Heb “between.”