Numbers 30:8

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

But if her husband disallow her in the day that he hears it, then he shall make void her vow which is on her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul: and Yahweh will forgive her.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מִבְטָ֣א

mibṭâʼ

H4008

“rash utterance of”

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 2× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 30:6

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H981

TWOT: 232a

rash utterance, hasty vow

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

21: words
16: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is מִבְטָ֣א rash utterance H4008 — appearing just 2 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מִבְטָ֣א rash utterance H4008 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Numbers 30:6

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
7 nouns
3 prepositions
1 conjunction
5 particles

Verb forms

שְׁמֹ֣עַ Qal · Infinitive Construct
יָנִ֣יא Hiphil · Imperfect
וְהֵפֵ֗ר Hiphil · Sequential Perfect
אָסְרָ֖ה Qal · Perfect
יִֽסְלַֽח Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

עָלֶ֔יהָ upon H5921 ×2
אֲשֶׁ֣ר which H834 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 43 words from the Hebrew and 39 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 21 Hebrew tokens and 30 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Numbers 30:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
1 Corinthians 14:34 let your wives keep silent in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as the law also says.
Ephesians 5:22–24 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:4 The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but the wife.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Numbers 30:8 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְ֠אִם בְּי֨וֹם שְׁמֹ֣עַ אִישָׁהּ֮ יָנִ֣יא אוֹתָהּ֒ וְהֵפֵ֗ר אֶת נִדְרָהּ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָלֶ֔יהָ וְאֵת֙ מִבְטָ֣א שְׂפָתֶ֔יהָ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָסְרָ֖ה עַל נַפְשָׁ֑הּ וַיהוָ֖ה יִֽסְלַֽח לָֽהּ

But if her husband disallow her in the day that he hears it, then he shall make void her vow which is on her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul: and Yahweh will forgive her.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Numbers 30:8 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ἀκούω ὁ ἀνήρ αὐτός καί παρασιωπάω αὐτός ὅς ἄν ἡμέρα ἀκούω καί οὕτως ἵστημι πᾶς ὁ εὐχή αὐτός καί ὁ ὁρισμός αὐτός ὅς ὁρίζω κατά ὁ ψυχή αὐτός ἵστημι

and her husband should hear, and hold his peace at her in the day in which he should hear, then thus shall all her vows be binding, and her obligations, which she has contracted upon her soul shall stand.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיִשְׁמַע בַּעֲלַהּ בְּיוֹמָא דִשְׁמַע וְיִשְׁתּוֹק לַהּ וִיקוּמוּן נִדְרָהָא וֶאֱסָרָהָא דִי אֲסָרַת עַל נַפְשַׁהּ יְקוּמוּן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְאִין בָּתַר דְאִתְנְסִיבַת נְדָרַת וְיִשְׁמַע בַּעֲלָהּ וּבְיוֹמָא דְשָׁמַע יִתְכַּוֵון לְקַיְימוּתְהוֹן וְיִשְׁתּוֹק לָהּ וְיִתְקַיְימוּן נִדְרָהָא וְאִיסְרָהָא דְאַסָרַת עַל נַפְשָׁהּ יִתְקַיְימוּן

But if after she is married she make a vow, and her husband hear it, and on the day that he heareth it he is minded to confirm it, and is silent to her, then the vow and the bond which she hath bound upon her soul shall be ratified.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Numbers 30:8 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

John Gill's Exposition

But if her husband disallow her on the day that he heard it,.... Expresses his dislike of it; and this he does as soon as he hears it, at least that same day; according to the Jews (x), within the space of twenty four hours:

then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect; by contradicting it, and forbidding the performance of it; or however by declaring to her, or to others, that it is not agreeable to his mind and will that it should be fulfilled:

and the Lord shall forgive her; excuse her performance of the vow, and not impute sin to her on that account, nor punish for the breach of it, she being under the cover of her husband, and obliged to submit to his will. According to Jarchi, the Scripture speaks of a woman that vows to be a Nazarite; her husband hears and makes it void; but she does not know it, and transgresses her vow, and drinks wine, and is defiled with the dead, so that she has need of forgiveness, though it is made void; and if vows made void, he adds, have need of pardon, much more those that are not.

(x) Leo Modena's History of Rites, &c. par. 2. c. 4.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

the vow that she has made ... the rash talk of her lips

"the vow that she has made ... that is, the rash talk of her lips." These two phrases refer to the same thing. The second phrase describes the vow that the woman made. (See: Parallelism)

the rash talk of her lips

The phrase "the rash talk" refers to the rash promise that she made. Here "her lips" means the woman herself. She is referred to as "her lips" because lips are related to what she says. AT: "the rash things she has said" or "her rash promise" (See: Synecdoche)

with which she has bound herself

Here Moses speaks of how a woman has committed herself to fulfilling a promise as if her promise were a physical object that she had bound to her body. AT: "which she has committed herself to fulfill" (See: Metaphor)

Yahweh will release her

Here Moses speaks about Yahweh forgiving the woman for not fulfilling her vow as if he were releasing her from something that bound her. The full meaning of this statement can be made clear. AT: "Yahweh will forgive her" or "Yahweh will forgive her for not fulfilling her vow" (See: Metaphor and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ושמע אישה וגו׳ BUT IF HER HUSBAND HEARD etc. — Here you have the case that if the husband confirmed the vow, it is confirmed. (That the father may confirm the vows of his betrothed daughter is given in v. 5 which statement applies also to w. 6 ff. — see Note).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 21 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mibṭâʼ (“rash utterance”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “rash utterance” (mibṭâʼ) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Numbers 30:6, which shares the word «rash utterance», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “upon” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«שְׁמֹ֣עַ» is a Qal Infinitive Construct verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how John Gill's Exposition and unfoldingWord translationNotes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 21 Hebrew ↔ 30 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 25 words in this verse.
“upon” occurs 2× in this single verse.
16 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 21 words in this verse.