Reading: Numbers 30, Psalms 74

¹ And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded.² If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.³ If a woman also vow a vow unto the LORD, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father's house in her youth;⁴ And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.⁵ But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the LORD shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.⁶ And if she had at all an husband, when she vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;⁷ And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it: then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.⁸ But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it; then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect: and the LORD shall forgive her.⁹ But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her.¹⁰ And if she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath;¹¹ And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.¹² But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath made them void; and the LORD shall forgive her.¹³ Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.¹⁴ But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.¹⁵ But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard them; then he shall bear her iniquity.¹⁶ These are the statutes, which the LORD commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father's house.

¹ Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?² Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.³ Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.⁴ Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.⁵ A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.⁶ But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.⁷ They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.⁸ They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.⁹ We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.¹⁰ O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?¹¹ Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.¹² For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.¹³ Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.¹⁴ Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.¹⁵ Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.¹⁶ The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.¹⁷ Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.¹⁸ Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.¹⁹ O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.²⁰ Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.²¹ O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.²² Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.²³ Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.