Numbers 30:9

WEB

"But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul, shall stand against her.

KJV

But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

Commentary

But every vow of a widow,.... The Scripture speaks, as Jarchi says, of a widow from marriage, or that has been married, but a widow from espousals (or that has been only espoused), the husband dead, the power is transmitted, an d returns to the father; and with respect to such a case, it is said in the Misnah (y)"if the father (of such a betrothed person) dies, the power is not transmitted to the husband; but if the husband dies, the power is transmitted to the father; in this case, greater is the power of a father than of an husband; in others, greater is the power of an husband than of a father, because an husband makes void (the vow of) one at age, but a father does not make void (the vow of) such an one:" and of her that is divorced: from her husband on some account or another; now in each of these cases, the one being loosed from the law of her husband by death, and the other by a bill of divorce, if they vowed: the vows wherewith they have bound their souls shall stand against her; against either of them, they having none over them to disapprove of, contradict, and make void their vows. (y) Nedarim, c. 10. sect. 2.