Bilangan 15:14

15:14 If a resident foreigner is living ¹  with you – or whoever is among you ²  in future generations ³  – and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. ⁴ 

Bilangan 30:2

30:2 If a man ⁵  makes a vow ⁶  to the Lord or takes an oath ⁷  of binding obligation on himself, ⁸  he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised. ⁹ 

Bilangan 36:3

36:3 Now if they should be married to one of the men ¹⁰  from another Israelite tribe, their inheritance would be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. ¹¹  As a result, it will be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

¹ tn The word גּוּר (gur) was traditionally translated “to sojourn,” i.e., to live temporarily in a land. Here the two words are from the root: “if a sojourner sojourns.”

² tn Heb “in your midst.”

³ tn The Hebrew text just has “to your generations,” but it means in the future.

⁴ tn The imperfect tenses must reflect the responsibility to comply with the law, and so the classifications of instruction or obligation may be applied.

⁵ tn The legal construction states the class to which the law applies, and then lays down the condition: “men [man] – if….”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative construction to express this: “a man if he vows a vow.”

⁷ tn The expression is “swear an oath” (הִשָּׁבַע שְׁבֻעָה, hishava’ shÿvu’ah). The vow (נֵדֶר, neder) was a promise to donate something of oneself or one’s substance to the Lord. The solemn oath seals the vow before the Lord, perhaps with sacrifice. The vocabulary recalls Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech and the naming of Beer Sheba with the word (see Gen 21).

⁸ tn The Hebrew text hasלֶאְסֹר אִסָּר (le’sor ’issar), meaning “to take a binding obligation.” This is usually interpreted to mean a negative vow, i.e., the person attempts to abstain from something that is otherwise permissible. It might involve fasting, or abstaining from marital sex, but it might also involve some goal to be achieved, and the abstaining from distractions until the vow is fulfilled (see Ps 132). The נֶדֶר (neder) may have been more for religious matters, and the אִסָּר more for social concerns, but this cannot be documented with certainty.

⁹ tn Heb “according to all that goes out of his mouth.”

¹⁰ tn “Men” is understood; it says “to one from the sons of the tribes of the Israelites for a wife,” or if he has her for a wife.

¹¹ tn Heb “which they will be to them,” meaning, to those who have them, i.e., the marriages.