Special Promises
1Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of Israel. He said, “Here is what the Lord commands. 2Suppose a man makes a special promise to the Lord. Or suppose he gives his word to do something. Then he must keep his promise. He must do everything he said he would do.
3“Suppose a young woman is still living in her father’s house. She makes a special promise to the Lord. Or she gives her word to do something. 4Suppose her father hears about her promise. And he doesn’t say anything to her about it. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do. 5But suppose her father doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised or agreed to do. The Lord will set her free. He’ll do it because her father hasn’t allowed her to keep her promises.
6“Suppose she gets married after she makes a special promise. Or she gets married after agreeing to do something without thinking it through. 7Suppose her husband hears about what she did. And he doesn’t say anything to her about it. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do. 8But suppose her husband doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised. She doesn’t have to do what she agreed to do without thinking it through. The Lord will set her free.
9“Suppose a widow makes a special promise. Or suppose she gives her word to do something. Then she must keep her promise. She must do what she agreed to do. The same rules apply to a woman who has been divorced.
10“Suppose a woman living with her husband makes a special promise. Or she gives her word to do something. 11Suppose her husband hears about what she did. He doesn’t say anything to her about it. And he doesn’t try to stop her from keeping her promises. Then she must keep all of them. She must do what she agreed to do. 12But suppose her husband doesn’t allow her to keep her promises when he hears about them. Then she doesn’t have to do what she promised. She doesn’t have to do what she agreed to do. Her husband has kept her from doing what she said she would do. The Lord will set her free. 13Her husband can let her keep any special promise she makes. Or he can refuse to let her keep it. Suppose she gives her word not to eat anything. Then her husband can let her keep her promise. Or he can refuse to let her keep it. 14But suppose day after day her husband doesn’t say anything to her about what she did. Then he lets her keep all her promises. He lets her do everything she agreed to do. That’s because he didn’t say anything to her when he heard about what she had done. 15But suppose some time after he hears about her promises he doesn’t let her keep them. Then she will be guilty. But he will bear the consequences for her guilt.”
16These are the rules the Lord gave Moses about a man and his wife. And these are the rules the Lord gave about a father and his young daughter still living at home.
1Moses overbragte israelitterne alle disse forskrifter, som Herren havde givet ham.
Regler vedrørende løfter
2Moses gav stammelederne følgende instrukser: „Herren har befalet: 3Hvis en mand aflægger Herren et højtideligt løfte eller ved en ed forpligter sig til afholdenhed på et bestemt område, så må han ikke bryde sit løfte. Hans løfte eller ed står fast.
4Hvis en ugift kvinde, der endnu bor hjemme i sin fars hus, aflægger et løfte og forpligter sig til afholdenhed på et bestemt område, 5og hvis hendes far efter at være gjort bekendt med løftet, ikke gør indsigelse, står løftet ved magt. 6Men hvis hendes far, samme dag han hører om det, nægter at godkende hendes løfte, træder løftet ud af kraft. Da vil Herren tilgive hende, for hendes far har modsat sig løftet.
7Hvis en kvinde gifter sig, mens hun stadig er forpligtet af et løfte, hun har aflagt uden at tænke så meget over konsekvenserne, 8og hendes mand ikke gør indsigelse den dag, han bliver gjort bekendt med løftet, står løftet ved magt. 9Men hvis hendes mand samme dag nægter at godkende løftet, træder det ud af kraft, og Herren vil tilgive hende.
10Hvis kvinden er enke eller fraskilt, vil et løfte hun har aflagt, stå ved magt.
11Hvis kvinden allerede er gift og bor sammen med sin mand, når hun aflægger sit løfte, 12og manden bliver gjort bekendt med løftet uden at gøre indsigelse, står løftet ved magt. 13Men hvis han modsætter sig løftet, samme dag han hører om det, træder løftet ud af kraft, og Herren vil tilgive hende. 14Hendes mand kan altså enten bekræfte eller afkræfte et løfte eller en forpligtelse til afholdenhed, som hans kone ved en ed har fremsagt, 15men hvis han ikke gør indsigelse den samme dag, han hører om det, har han dermed godkendt løftet som gyldigt. 16Hvis han overskrider denne frist og senere får hende til at bryde sit løftet, bliver det hans ansvar, og straffen for løftebruddet rammer ham selv.”
17Det var de regler, Herren gav Moses om forholdet mellem en mand og hans kone og mellem en far og hans ugifte datter.
