What Does Numbers 30:2 Mean in the King James?
If a man vow a vow unto 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 proceedeth out of his mouth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
A vow binds the living self to words that have gone out, and breaking it is framed as profaning speech.
THE MEANING
When you vow to the LORD, your words place a bond on your living self. What leaves your mouth carries into what you do; your speech and your action remain joined.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a promise is only sound until action makes it real: here, the spoken word already binds the one who speaks.
THE ROOT
לֶאְסֹר אִסָּר
le'esor issar
GROWS FROM
אסר
To bind, tie, or put in bonds.
The verse repeats the root אסר (asar, to bind) as both verb and noun: “bind a bond.” The obligation is laid on the נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living self), so the vow is not a detachable sound but a bond the speaker carries.
ALSO GROWS
asar: To bind or tie.
אָסַר
The verb names what the vow does: it binds its speaker.
issar: A bond or binding obligation.
אִסָּר
The noun names the obligation laid on the living self.
asir: A person who is bound, a prisoner.
אָסִיר
This branch makes the root’s image of binding concrete.
יְחַל
yachel
GROWS FROM
חלל
To profane or make common.
The word translated “break” comes from חלל (ḥalal, to profane or make common). The verse presents a broken vow as speech stripped of its weight, not merely a promise left unfinished.
ALSO GROWS
ḥillēl: To profane or desecrate.
חִלֵּל
This is the verb family behind “shall not break”: the vow is not to be treated as profane.
ḥol: Common or ordinary.
חֹל
This branch shows the contrast between a vow that bears weight and speech treated as ordinary talk.
נַפְשׁוֹ
nafsho
GROWS FROM
נפש
The related verb נָפַשׁ (naphash) means to rest or be refreshed; נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) names the living self.
The bond is placed on the whole נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living soul), not on an abstract part of the person. The same root can describe being refreshed, keeping the word’s referent grounded in a living, embodied self.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, self, or person.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the whole living self the vow binds.
vayinnaphesh: Rested or was refreshed.
וַיִּנָּפֵשׁ
This verbal branch shows the root’s connection to the condition of a living self.
THE PATTERN
A spoken commitment carries moral weight into the speaker’s conduct.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.THE THREAD
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.Both verses use יָצָא (yatsa, to go out) for words leaving the mouth or lips. Deuteronomy makes the movement explicit: what has gone out is kept and performed.
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