29 Bible Verses about Making Vows

When you make a vow or a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God takes no pleasure in fools [who thoughtlessly mock Him]. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Do not allow your speech to cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger (priest) of God that it was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of your voice (words) and destroy the work of your hands? read more.
For in a multitude of dreams and in a flood of words there is worthlessness. Rather [reverently] fear God [and worship Him with awe-filled respect, knowing who He is]. If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be shocked at the sight [of corruption]; for a higher official watches over another official, and there are higher ones over them [looking out for one another].

If a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself with a pledge [of abstinence], he shall not break (violate, profane) his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

My praise will be of You in the great assembly.
I will pay my vows [made in the time of trouble] before those who [reverently] fear Him.

So I will sing praise to Your name forever,
Paying my vows day by day.

I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings;
I shall pay You my vows,

I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people.

I will pay my vows to the Lord,
Yes, in the presence of all His people,

You shall be careful to perform that [vow] which passes your lips, just as you have made a voluntary vow to the Lord your God, just as you have promised with your own words (mouth).

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord [as a religious duty].’

“Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving
And pay your vows to the Most High;

“You will pray to Him, and He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.

Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them;
Let all who are around Him bring gifts to Him who is to be feared [with awe-inspired reverence].

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news [telling of Assyria’s destruction],
Who announces peace and prosperity!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;
Perform your vows.
For the wicked one [the king of Assyria] will never again pass through you;
He is completely cut off.

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it, for He will most certainly require it of you, and a delay would cause you to sin.

When you make a vow or a pledge to God, do not put off paying it; for God takes no pleasure in fools [who thoughtlessly mock Him]. Pay what you vow.

And so the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know [heed, honor, and cherish] the Lord in that day. They will even worship with sacrifices [of animals] and offerings [of produce]; they will make a vow to the Lord and fulfill it.

To You belongs silence [the submissive wonder of reverence], and [it bursts into] praise in Zion, O God;
And to You the vow shall be performed.

“But [as for me], I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I shall pay that which I have vowed.
Salvation is from the Lord!”

Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and dedicated to the Lord, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. read more.
All the time of his separation he shall not eat anything produced from the grapevine, from the seeds even to the skins. ‘All the time of the vow of his separation no razor shall be used on his head. Until the time of his separation to the Lord is completed, he shall be holy, and shall let the hair of his head grow long. ‘All the time that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. He shall not make himself [ceremonially] unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because [the responsibility for] his separation to God is on his head. All the time of his separation he is holy to the Lord. ‘If a man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his dedicated head, then he shall shave his head on the day that he becomes [ceremonially] clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day [the end of the purification period]. On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). The priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering and make atonement for him concerning his sin because of the [dead] body. He shall consecrate his head the same day, and he shall dedicate himself to the Lord for the time of his separation and shall bring a male lamb a year old as a guilt offering; but the previous days will be void and lost, because his separation was defiled. ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and dedication are fulfilled: he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle). and he shall offer his gift to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering, and one female lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer the person’s sin offering and his burnt offering. He shall also offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. The Nazirite shall shave his dedicated head at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened [ring-shaped] loaf out of the basket, and one unleavened flat cake and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his dedicated hair. Then the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’ “This is the law for the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord for his separation, besides what else he is able to afford, according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite].”

It is a trap for a man to [speak a vow of consecration and] say rashly, “It is holy!”
And [not until] afterward consider [whether he can fulfill it].

“Also if a woman makes a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge [of abstinence], while living in her father’s house in her youth, and her father hears her vow and her pledge by which she has bound herself, and he offers no objection, then all her vows shall stand and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father disapproves of her [making her vow] on the day that he hears about it, none of her vows or her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her because her father has disapproved of her [making the vow]. read more.
“But if she marries while under her vows or if she has bound herself by a rash statement, and her husband hears of it and says nothing about it on the day he hears it, then her vows shall stand and her pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband disapproves of her [making her vow or pledge] on the day that he hears of it, then he shall annul her vow which she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her. “But the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, everything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her. However, if she vowed in her husband’s house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not disapprove of her [making the vow], then all her vows and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband absolutely annuls them on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeds from her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge shall not stand. Her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her. “Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it or her husband may annul it. But if her husband says nothing to her [concerning the matter] from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her pledges which are on her. He has confirmed them because he said nothing to her on the day he heard them. But if he indeed nullifies them after he hears of them, then he shall be responsible for and bear her guilt [for breaking her promise].” These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter while she is a youth in her father’s house.

But you say, ‘If anyone says to his father or mother, “Whatever [money or resource that] I have that would help you is [already dedicated and] given to God,”

but you [Pharisees and scribes] say, ‘If a man tells his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you is Corban, (that is to say, already a gift to God),”’

“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any stranger in Israel who presents his offering, whether to fulfill any of their vows or as any of their freewill (voluntary) offerings which they presented to the Lord as a burnt offering— so that you may be accepted—it must be a male without blemish from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats.

For a freewill offering you may offer either a bull or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member (deformity), but for [the payment of] a vow it will not be accepted.

“But cursed is the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows [to offer] it, but sacrifices to the Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is to be [reverently and greatly] feared among the nations.”

But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day that which remains of it may be eaten;

“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man makes a special vow [consecrating himself or a member of his family], he shall be valued according to your [established system of] valuation of people belonging to the Lord [that is, the priest accepts from the man making the vow a specified amount of money for the temple treasury in place of the actual person]. If your valuation is of a male between twenty and sixty years of age, then your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. Or if the person is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels. read more.
If the person is between five years and twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels and for the female ten shekels. But if the child is between one month and five years of age, then your valuation shall be five shekels of silver for the male and three shekels for the female. If the person is sixty years old and above, your valuation shall be fifteen shekels for the male, and ten shekels for the female. But if the person is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall be placed before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of the one who vowed, the priest shall value him. ‘Now if it is an animal of the kind which men can present as an offering to the Lord, any such that one gives to the Lord shall be holy. He shall not replace it or exchange it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good; but if he does exchange an animal for an animal, then both the original offering and its substitute shall be holy. If it is any unclean animal of the kind which men do not present as an offering to the Lord, then he shall bring the animal before the priest, and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; it shall be as you, the priest, value it. But if he ever wishes to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of it to your valuation. ‘If a man consecrates his house as sacred to the Lord, the priest shall appraise it as either good or bad; as the priest appraises it, so shall it stand. If the one who consecrates his house should wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of your valuation price to it, so that it may be his. ‘And if a man consecrates to the Lord part of a field of his own property, then your valuation shall be proportionate to the seed needed for it; a homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand according to your valuation. But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price for him in proportion to the years that remain until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your valuation. If the one who consecrates the field should ever wish to redeem it, then he shall add one-fifth of the appraisal price to it, so that it may return to him. If he does not redeem the field, but has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed. When the field reverts in the Jubilee, the field shall be holy to the Lord, like a field set apart (devoted); the priest shall possess it as his property. Or if a man consecrates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not part of the field of his [ancestral] property, then the priest shall calculate for him the amount of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and the man shall give that [amount] on that day as a holy thing to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was purchased, to whom the land belonged [as his ancestral inheritance]. Every valuation of yours shall be in accordance with the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs shall make a shekel. ‘However, the firstborn among animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may consecrate, whether an ox or a sheep. It is [already] the Lord’s. If it is among the unclean animals, the owner may redeem it in accordance with your valuation, and add one-fifth to it; or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold in accordance with your valuation. ‘But nothing that a man sets apart [that is, devotes as an offering] to the Lord out of all that he has, of man or of animal or of the fields of his own property, shall be sold or redeemed. Anything devoted to destruction (banned, cursed) is most holy to the Lord. No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed [from death], he shall most certainly be put to death. ‘And all the tithe (tenth part) of the land, whether the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem any part of his tithe, he shall add one-fifth to it. For every tithe of the herd or flock, whatever passes under the [shepherd’s] staff, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. The man is not to be concerned whether the animal is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it. But if he does exchange it, then both it and its substitute shall become holy; it shall not be redeemed.’”