Numbers 30:1-31:24

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

Vows Made by Women

30 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, “This is what the Lord has commanded. ² When a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. ³ Or when 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 expresses disapproval to 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 And if she is married to a husband, while under her 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 expresses disapproval, then he shall make void her vow which was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips, by which she bound herself; 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 the Lord will forgive her. ¹³ Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself, her husband may establish, 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 he shall bear her iniquity.”

¹⁶ These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, as between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, while in her youth, within her father’s house.

War against Midian

31 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Avenge the people of Israel on the Mid′ianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” ³ And Moses said to the people, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Mid′ian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Mid′ian. 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 armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phin′ehas the son of Elea′zar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ They warred against Mid′ian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and slew every male. ⁸ They slew the kings of Mid′ian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Mid′ian; and they also slew Balaam the son of Be′or with the sword. ⁹ And the people of Israel took captive the women of Mid′ian and their little ones; and they took as booty all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ All their cities in the places where they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burned with fire, ¹¹ and took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast. ¹² Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, and to Elea′zar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Return from the War

¹³ Moses, and Elea′zar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶ Behold, these caused the people of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Pe′or, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹ Encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹ And Elea′zar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp.”