Hebrew word · H632

אִסָּר

'isar

injunction

'A binding, a restriction.' It comes from ʾasar, 'to tie, bind, imprison.' In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only in Numbers 30 (vv. 2–14).

Appears 11 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bond, binding obligation, obligation

Aramaic equivalent: e.sar (אֱסָר "injunction" H0633)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Numbers 30:2

Range of meaning

'A binding, a restriction.' It comes from ʾasar, 'to tie, bind, imprison.' In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only in Numbers 30 (vv. 2–14). Verse 13 links it to 'an oath of binding to afflict the self,' which suggests it mainly means a pledge to hold back from something: food, drink, comforts and the like.

Against the English

BSB says 'pledge,' KJV/WEB 'bond.' 'Pledge' can sound like a promise to give something (for example a pledge to a charity), when the main idea is a restriction a person places on himself. 'Bond' keeps the picture of a cord.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Aramaic cognate ʾesar is the royal 'prohibition, interdict' in Daniel 6:7–15, the decree that bans prayer to anyone but the king. In later rabbinic Hebrew ʾissur became the standard word for something 'forbidden.' The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) renders it with horismos, 'a fixed limit, a definition.'

Where it appears

Numbers · 11

  1. Numbers 30:2 אִסָּר֙ an obligation

    If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.

    Here: 'A binding.' This noun occurs only in Numbers 30. From verse 13 it seems to mean mainly a pledge to hold back from something, a self-imposed restriction.

  2. Numbers 30:3 אִסָּ֛ר an obligation

    And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge,

  3. Numbers 30:4 וֶֽאֱסָרָהּ֙ אִסָּ֛ר and obligation her, obligation

    and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.

  4. Numbers 30:5 וֶֽאֱסָרֶ֛יהָ and obligations her

    But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, then none of the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. The LORD will absolve her because her father has prohibited her.

  5. Numbers 30:7 וֶֽאֱסָרֶ֛הָ and obligations her

    and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her on that day, then the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.

  6. Numbers 30:10 אִסָּ֛ר an obligation

    If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath,

  7. Numbers 30:11 אִסָּ֛ר obligation

    and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her and does not prohibit her, then all the vows or pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand.

  8. Numbers 30:12 וּלְאִסַּ֥ר and to [the] obligation of

    But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or pledges, shall stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will absolve her.

  9. Numbers 30:13 אִסָּ֖ר obligation

    Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow or any sworn pledge to deny herself.

  10. Numbers 30:14 אֱסָרֶ֖יהָ obligations her

    But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all the vows and pledges that bind her. He has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard about them.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.