Bible Strands
Numbers 21:2
So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Israel speaks to Yahweh immediately after the Canaanite king of Arad captures prisoners, proposing a conditional bargain for military deliverance.
The words — נֶדֶר (Ne.der) denotes a binding vow, while אִם ('im) introduces the conditional clause that frames the entire proposal.
The thread — This conditional vow structure parallels the bargaining language in Genesis 28:20 and Judges 11:30, where speakers tie divine action to human commitment.
Why it lands — The text demands a clear-eyed view of transactional faith, showing how humans attempt to secure divine intervention through stipulated obligations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
Cross-references
- Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Judges 11:30 Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,
- Joshua 6:26 At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
- 1 Samuel 1:11 And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”
- Leviticus 27:28 Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 13:15 you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.
- 2 Samuel 15:7 After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD.
- Psalms 56:12 Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You.
- Psalms 116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people,
- Psalms 132:2 how he swore an oath to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: