The Law of Vows

30 ^[a]Then Moses spoke to ^(A)the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the word which the Lord has commanded: ^2 (B)If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to ^[b]put himself under a binding obligation, he shall not break his word; he shall act in accordance with everything that comes out of his mouth.

³ “And if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and puts herself under a binding obligation in her father’s house in her youth, ⁴ and her father hears her vow and her obligation under which she has put herself, and her father ^[c]says nothing to her, then all her vows shall ^[d]remain valid and every binding obligation under which she has put herself shall ^[e]remain valid. ⁵ But if her father expresses disapproval to her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations under which she has put herself shall remain valid; and the Lord will ^[f]forgive her because her father has expressed disapproval to her.

⁶ “However, if she happens to ^[g]marry while ^[h]under her vows or the impulsive statement of her lips by which she has obligated herself, ⁷ and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows shall remain valid and her binding obligations under which she has put herself shall remain valid. ⁸ But if on the day her husband hears of it, he expresses disapproval to her, then he will annul her vow which ^[i]she is under and the impulsive statement of her lips by which she has obligated herself; and the Lord will ^[j]forgive her.

⁹ “But as for the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, every binding obligation under which she has put herself, shall remain valid against her. ¹⁰ However, if a married woman vowed in her husband’s house, or put herself under a binding obligation with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not express disapproval to her, then all her vows shall remain valid and every binding obligation under which she put herself shall remain valid. ¹² But if her husband actually annuls them on the day he hears them, then no utterance from her lips concerning her vows or the obligation she put on herself shall remain valid; her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will ^[k]forgive her.

¹³ “Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it or her husband may annul it. ¹⁴ But if her husband in fact says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her binding obligations which are on her; he has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard them. ¹⁵ However, if he actually annuls them ^[l]after he has heard them, then he shall bear the responsibility for her guilt.”

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

Contrast of the Upright and the Wicked

Judas’ Remorse

27 ^(A)Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; ² and they bound Him and led Him away, and ^(B)handed Him over to ^(C)Pilate the governor.

³ Then when ^(D)Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned ^(E)the thirty ^[a]pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, ⁴ saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? ^(F)You shall see to it yourself!” ⁵ And he threw the pieces of silver into ^(G)the temple sanctuary and left; and ^(H)he went away and hanged himself. ⁶ The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them in the temple treasury, since it is money paid for blood.” ⁷ And they conferred together and ^[b]with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. ^8 (I)For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹ Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “^(J)And ^[c]they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the One whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; ^10 (K)and ^[d]they gave them for the Potter’s Field, just as the Lord directed me.”

Jesus before Pilate

^11 (L)Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “So You are the ^(M)King of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “^(N)It is as you say.” ¹² And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, ^(O)He did not offer any answer. ¹³ Then Pilate *said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they are testifying against You?” ¹⁴ And still ^(P)He did not answer him in regard to even a single ^[e]charge, so the governor was greatly amazed.

^15 (Q)Now at the Passover Feast the governor was accustomed to release for the ^[f]people any one prisoner whom they wanted. ¹⁶ And at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus ^(R)who is called Christ?” ¹⁸ For he knew that it was because of envy that ^[g]they had handed Him over.

¹⁹ And ^(S)while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “See that you have nothing to do with that ^(T)righteous Man; for ^[h]last night I suffered greatly ^(U)in a dream because of Him.” ²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ^(V)ask for Barabbas, and to put Jesus to death. ²¹ And the governor ^[i]said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²² Pilate *said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus ^(W)who is called Christ?” They all *said, “^[j]Crucify Him!” ²³ But he said, “Why, what evil has He done?” Yet they kept shouting all the more, saying, “^[k]Crucify Him!”

²⁴ Now when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that ^(X)a riot was starting, he took water and ^(Y)washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of ^(Z)this Man’s blood; ^(AA)you yourselves shall see.” ²⁵ And all the people replied, “^(AB)His blood shall be on us and on our children!” ²⁶ Then he released Barabbas ^[l]for them; but after having Jesus ^(AC)flogged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^27 (AD)Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into ^(AE)the ^[m]Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman ^[n](AF)cohort to Him. ²⁸ And they stripped Him and ^(AG)put a red ^[o]cloak on Him. ^29 (AH)And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and put a ^[p]reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “^(AI)Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And ^(AJ)they spit on Him, and took the reed and beat Him on the head. ^31 (AK)And after they had mocked Him, they took the cloak off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.