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.
As promessas ao Senhor
1Então Moisés convocou os chefes de tribos e disse-lhes: “O Senhor ordenou 2que quando alguém fizer uma promessa ao Senhor, seja de realizar algo ou de, por exemplo, deixar de praticar determinada ação, esse voto deverá ser cumprido; não se violará a palavra dada; terá de se cumprir exatamente aquilo que se prometeu.
3Se uma mulher prometer ao Senhor fazer, ou não fazer, qualquer coisa, e se for jovem e viver ainda com os pais, 4e se o pai ouvir que ela fez uma promessa a que se ligou com obrigações e não lhe disser nada, então esse voto será válido. 5Mas se o pai recusar deixá-la fazer esse voto, ou sentir que as penalidades a que se obrigou são demasiado duras, então esse voto automaticamente é inválido. O pai deverá declarar a sua desaprovação no primeiro dia em que ouvir falar disso. O Senhor perdoará à rapariga, visto que o pai não o permitiu.
6Se uma mulher fizer um voto ou uma promessa proferida irrefletidamente, e se depois vier a casar, 7quando o marido tomar conhecimento desse voto, se não disser nada no próprio dia em que ouviu isso, então o voto manter-se-á válido. 8Mas se o marido se opuser, se recusar aceitar esse voto ou promessa leviana, a sua recusa a tornará sem valor, e o Senhor lhe perdoará.
9Contudo, se uma mulher for viúva ou divorciada deverá sempre cumprir o seu voto.
10Se ela for casada, vivendo com o marido na altura em que fez o voto, 11quando o marido o ouvir, se não disser nada o voto manter-se-á. 12Mas se ele recusar, se não o consentir no próprio dia em que o ouviu, o voto fica anulado e o Senhor a perdoará. 13O marido poderá tanto confirmar como anular o voto dela, mas se não disser nada durante o dia inteiro, é porque concorda. 14-15Se passar mais do que um dia e depois pretender recusar permissão para que o voto se cumpra, todas as obrigações a que esteja ligada cairão sobre ele e ele será igualmente responsável por elas.”
16Estas são pois as ordens que o Senhor deu a Moisés respeitantes a relações entre uma mulher e o seu marido e entre o pai e as filhas que vivem com ele.
