What Does Numbers 30:3 Mean in the King James?
If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth;
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
The Hebrew says she does not merely make a promise, she binds herself with a binding.
THE MEANING
This verse gives a young woman’s vow real weight: she speaks it to the LORD while living in her father’s house, and her words place her under a bond. Her promise is entangled with the authority of the household around her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a vow is only an intention: here, the spoken vow is already described as a bond she has taken on herself.
THE ROOT
אָסְרָה אִסָּר
ʾāsĕrāh ʾissār
GROWS FROM
אסר
To bind, tie, or place under a restriction.
“bind herself by a bond” in this verse is ʾāsĕrāh ʾissār. The verb and noun come from the same root: she “binds a binding.” That repetition presents the vow as a restraint she assumes, not merely words spoken aloud.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsar: To bind or restrain.
אָסַר
The verb names the act of taking on the bond described in the verse.
ʾāsur: Bound, restricted, or prohibited.
אָסוּר
This branch shows the state that binding creates: the speaker is now under a constraint.
תִּדֹּר נֶדֶר
tidor neder
GROWS FROM
נדר
To vow or make a solemn commitment.
“vow a vow” in this verse is tidor neder. The verb and noun repeat the same root: literally, “she vows a vow.” The pairing joins the act of speaking to the commitment it creates.
ALSO GROWS
nadar: To vow or pledge.
נָדַר
This is the verb used for the woman’s act of making the vow.
neder: A vow or pledged commitment.
נֶדֶר
This is the noun that names what her words set in motion.
THE PATTERN
A vow is binding speech, and its force is shaped by the relationships and authority named around it.
When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.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.But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.THE THREAD
And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.The next verse repeats the same vow-and-bond language, then says her commitments stand if her father hears them and remains silent. It makes explicit the household authority already signaled by “in her father’s house” here.
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