When a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge: Some languages may need to render man as “[adult] male person” (Chewa). The Hebrew phrases for vows a vow, swears an oath (literally “swears a swearing”), and bind … a pledge (literally “bind a bond”) each use a verb and direct object from the same root. Here this grammatical construction emphasizes that vows of any sort must be kept. The Hebrew term for vow (neder) refers to a conditional promise made to God: if God will do such-and-such, the vow taker commits himself to do something. The Hebrew term for oath (shebuʿah) refers to a binding oath from the moment it is pronounced (so Alter, page 838). The Hebrew term for pledge (ʾissar) refers to a promise to abstain from doing something (so Noth, pages 224-225; also Rashi). To bind himself by a pledge is literally “to bind a bond on his self,” which means “to limit himself.” According to Ashley (page 577), neder refers to positive vows, and ʾissar to negative ones. This understanding is reflected in Good News Translation, which renders the first half of this verse as “When a man makes a vow to give something to the LORD or takes an oath to abstain from something.” Levine (pages 429-430), on the other hand, relates ʾissar to the Aramaic contractual term ʾesar, which means “binding agreement.” We prefer the sense given in Good News Translation. Translators may need to do some research in their language to find the appropriate terminology to maintain the Hebrew distinctions here, if possible; if not, some creative reconstruction may be necessary to avoid dull repetition; for example, the first half of this verse may be translated “When a man makes a vow to do something for the LORD or takes an oath not to do something.”

He shall not break his word is literally “he shall not defile/desecrate/profane [yachel in Hebrew] his word.” Some languages may have idiomatic expressions for this clause, for example, “he must not smash that promise of his” (Chewa).

He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth: This clause reiterates the preceding negative one in a positive way for emphasis. Languages may have a similar idiom that is just as forceful, for example, “but do everything as it has come over his lips” (Luther) and “he must do the things that he has vowed with his mouth” (Chewa). If an idiom is not possible, other possible models are “He must do exactly what he said he would do” (New Living Translation) and “but must do everything that he said he would” (Good News Translation).

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .