Numbers 30:15

30:15 But if he should nullify them after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.” ¹ 

Numbers 30:12-13

30:12 But if her husband clearly nullifies ²  them when he hears them, then whatever she says ³  by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.

30:13 “Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her, ⁴  her husband can confirm or nullify. ⁵ 

Numbers 15:31

15:31 Because he has despised ⁶  the word of the Lord and has broken ⁷  his commandment, that person ⁸  must be completely cut off. ⁹  His iniquity will be on him.’” ¹⁰ 

Numbers 30:8

30:8 But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify ¹¹  the vow she has taken, ¹²  and whatever she uttered impulsively which she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.

¹ sn In other words, he will pay the penalty for making her break her vows if he makes her stop what she vowed. It will not be her responsibility.

² tn The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.

³ tn Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”

³ tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת (lÿ’annot, “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.

⁴ tn Heb “or her husband can nullify.”

⁴ tn The verb בָּזָה (bazah, “to despise”) means to treat something as worthless, to treat it with contempt, to look down the nose at something as it were.

⁵ tn The verb פָּרַר (parar, “to break”) can mean to nullify, break, or violate a covenant.

⁶ tn Heb “soul.”

⁷ tn The construction uses the Niphal imperfect with the modifying Niphal infinitive absolute. The infinitive makes the sentence more emphatic. If the imperfect tense is taken as an instruction imperfect, then the infinitive makes the instruction more binding. If it is a simple future, then the future is certain. In either case, there is no exclusion from being cut off.

⁸ sn The point is that the person’s iniquity remains with him – he must pay for his sin. The judgment of God in such a case is both appropriate and unavoidable.

⁵ tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb פָּרַר (parar, “to annul”). The verb functions here as the equivalent of an imperfect tense; here it is the apodosis following the conditional clause – if this is the case, then this is what will happen.

⁶ tn Heb “which [she is] under it.”