^2 (A)If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or ^(B)swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. ^(C)He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Women and Vows

³ “If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, ⁴ and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁵ But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her.

⁶ “If she marries a husband, while under her ^(D)vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, ⁷ and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁸ But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her ^(E)vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. ^(F)And the Lord will forgive her. ⁹ (But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.) ¹⁰ And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. ¹² But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and ^(G)the Lord will forgive her. ¹³ Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself,^[a] her husband may establish,^[b] or her husband may make void. ¹⁴ But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them. ¹⁵ But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then ^(H)he shall bear her iniquity.”

¹⁶ These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house.

Vengeance on Midian

31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (I)“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall ^(J)be gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand ^(K)armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and ^(L)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^(M)killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, ^(N)Evi, Rekem, ^(O)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed ^(P)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their ^(Q)encampments, they burned with fire, ^11 (R)and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. ¹² Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on ^(S)the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.