42 Bible Verses about Vows

When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for {he takes no pleasure} in fools. Fulfill what you vow!

if a man makes a vow for Yahweh or swears an oath with a binding pledge on himself, he must not render his word invalid; he must do all that went out from his mouth.

Offer to God a thank offering and pay your vows to [the] Most High.

You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

"{When you make a vow} to Yahweh your God, you shall not postpone {fulfillment of it}, [for] certainly Yahweh your God shall require it from you and [if postponed] {you will incur guilt}.

She {made a vow} and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant {a male child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

So Paul, [after] remaining many days longer, said farewell to the brothers [and] sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved [his] head at Cenchrea, because he had [taken] a vow.

So the men feared Yahweh {greatly}, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and {made} vows.

And Jacob made a vow saying, "If God will be with me and protect me on this way that I am going, and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,

Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and they said, "If you will surely give this people into our hand, then we {will destroy} their cities."

And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and {your donations} and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock.

{and then} [at] the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there, there you shall bring all [the things] I [am] commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and {your donations}, and all [of] the choice [things], your votive gifts that you vow to Yahweh.

You are not allowed to eat in your {towns} the tithe of your grain and your wine and your olive oil and the firstborn of your herd and your flock and all [of] your votive gifts that you vowed and your freewill offering and {your donations}. But only {before} Yahweh your God you shall eat it, at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite who [is] in your {towns}, and you must rejoice {before} your God {in all your undertakings}.

Only your holy objects {that are yours} and your votive gifts you must carry and you must bring to the place that Yahweh will choose.

[The] blind or [the] injured or [the] maimed or [the] seeping or [one with a] skin disorder or [one with a] skin eruption--these you shall not present to Yahweh, nor shall you give from them an offering made by fire on the altar for Yahweh.

" 'But if his sacrifice [is] [for] a vow or [as] a freewill offering, it must be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day the remainder from it may be eaten,

"Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'Anyone from the house of Israel or from the alien in Israel who presents his offering for any of their vows or for any of their freewill offerings that they present to Yahweh as a burnt offering,

The utterance of your lips {you must perform diligently} [just] as you have vowed freely to Yahweh your God whatever [it was] that you promised with your mouth.

"{When you make a vow} to Yahweh your God, you shall not postpone {fulfillment of it}, [for] certainly Yahweh your God shall require it from you and [if postponed] {you will incur guilt}.

I [am] the God of Bethel where you anointed a stone pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now get up, go out from this land and return to the land of your birth.'"

And Jacob made a vow saying, "If God will be with me and protect me on this way that I am going, and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and [if] I return in peace to the house of my father, then Yahweh will become my God. And this stone that I have set up [as] a pillar shall be the house of God, and [of] all that you give to me I will certainly give a tenth to you."

"Cursed is the one who cheats, who has in his flock a male and vows [it], but [instead] sacrifices a blemished one to the Lord! For I [am] a great king," says Yahweh of hosts, "and my name [is] awesome among the nations."

As for an ox or sheep that is deformed or that is stunted, you may present it [as] a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted.

She {made a vow} and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant {a male child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

I prayed for this boy, and Yahweh has given me my request that I asked from him. I in turn have lent him to Yahweh. {As long as he lives} he [is] lent to Yahweh." Then they worshiped Yahweh there.

Then Paul took along the men on the next day, [and] [after he] had purified himself together with them, he entered into the temple [courts], announcing the completion of the days of purification until {the time} the offering would be presented on behalf of each one of them.

Therefore do this that we tell you: {we have} four men who have [taken] a vow upon themselves. Take these [men] [and] purify yourself along with them and {pay their expenses} so that they can shave [their] heads, and everyone will know that [the things] which they had been informed about you are nothing, but you yourself also agree with observing the law.

And the {Israelites} said, "Who in the assembly has not come up from all the tribes of Israel to Yahweh?" For a solemn oath was [taken] concerning whoever did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, "He will certainly be put to death." But the {Israelites} had compassion for Benjamin, their relatives, and they said, "Today one tribe is cut off from Israel.

The descendants of Benjamin went out from Gibeah, and they struck down on that day twenty-two thousand men of Israel to the ground.

" 'You will present these to Yahweh at your appointed time, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings and for you grain offerings and for your libations and for your fellowship offerings.'"

" 'These [are] Yahweh's festivals, which you must proclaim, holy assemblies to present an offering made by fire to Yahweh--burnt offering and grain offering, sacrifice and libations, {each on its proper day}-- {besides} Yahweh's Sabbaths and {besides} your gifts and {besides} your vows and {besides} all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh.

"{When you make a vow} to Yahweh your God, you shall not postpone {fulfillment of it}, [for] certainly Yahweh your God shall require it from you and [if postponed] {you will incur guilt}. And {if you refrain from vowing}, {you shall not incur guilt}.

And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and {your donations} and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock.

{and then} [at] the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there, there you shall bring all [the things] I [am] commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and {your donations}, and all [of] the choice [things], your votive gifts that you vow to Yahweh.

You are not allowed to eat in your {towns} the tithe of your grain and your wine and your olive oil and the firstborn of your herd and your flock and all [of] your votive gifts that you vowed and your freewill offering and {your donations}. But only {before} Yahweh your God you shall eat it, at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite who [is] in your {towns}, and you must rejoice {before} your God {in all your undertakings}.

Only your holy objects {that are yours} and your votive gifts you must carry and you must bring to the place that Yahweh will choose.

You may not bring the {hire} of a prostitute or {the earnings of a male prostitute} [into] the house of Yahweh your God, for any vow offerings, because {both} are a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.

" 'And if [it is] a domestic animal from which they present an offering for Yahweh, all that he gives from it for Yahweh shall be a holy object. He shall not replace it, nor shall he exchange it, [either] good with bad or bad with good; and if he indeed exchanges a domestic animal with a domestic animal, then {it and its substitution shall be a holy object}.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When a man makes a vow according to your proper value [of] persons to Yahweh, if your proper value is [for] a male from {twenty years of age} up to {sixty years of age}, then your proper value shall be fifty shekels [of] money according to the sanctuary's shekel. read more.
But if it [is for] a female, then your proper value shall be thirty shekels. And if from {five years of age} up to {twenty years of age}, then your proper value shall be twenty shekels [for] the male and ten shekels for the female. And if from {a month of age} up to {five years of age}, then your proper value shall be five shekels [of] money [for] the male, and your proper value for the female [shall be] three shekels [of] money. And if from {sixty years of age} and above: if a male, then your proper value shall be fifteen shekels; and for the female, ten shekels. But if he [is] poorer than your proper value, then he shall present himself {before} the priest, and the priest shall set a value [on] him; the priest shall value him {according to} what the person who made a vow {can afford}.

But if her husband is completely silent from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her pledges that [are] on her; he confirms them because he was silent to her on the day he heard [them]. But if he indeed nullifies them after he hears them, then he will bear her guilt."

The words of Lemuel, [the] king--an oracle that his mother taught him: What, my son? And what, my son in my womb? And what, son of my vows?

And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, "If indeed you will give the {Ammonites} into my hand, whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the {Ammonites} will be Yahweh's, and I will offer it [as] a burnt offering."

"If {she has a husband} while bound by her vows or a rash promise of her lips, and her husband hears [of it] and is silent on the day he hears [it], her vows will stand, and her pledge that she bound upon herself will stand. But if on the day her husband hears [of it], he forbids her, then he will nullify her vow that she is under, and the rash promise of her lips that she bound on herself; and Yahweh will forgive her.

"If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh, and she binds a pledge [on herself] in her father's house in your childhood, but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand. If her father forbids her on the day he hears [of it], all her vows or her pledges that she bound on herself will not stand, and Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forgiven her.

[It is] a snare to humankind to say rashly "[It is] holy," and after vows, to scrutinize.

She {made a vow} and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant {a male child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

And this stone that I have set up [as] a pillar shall be the house of God, and [of] all that you give to me I will certainly give a tenth to you."

"Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it.

Then she brought him up with her when she had weaned him, [along] with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh while the boy [was still] young.

She {made a vow} and said: "O Yahweh of hosts, if you will look with compassion on the misery of your female servant, and will remember me, and not forget your female servant, and will give to your female servant {a male child} then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor will never pass over his head."

How he swore to Yahweh, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: "I will not enter into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed, I will give no sleep to my eyes, [no] slumber to my eyelids, read more.
until I find a place for Yahweh, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."

Israel made a vow to Yahweh, and they said, "If you will surely give this people into our hand, then we {will destroy} their cities."

"But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her.

if a man makes a vow for Yahweh or swears an oath with a binding pledge on himself, he must not render his word invalid; he must do all that went out from his mouth.

"Speak to the {Israelites} and say to them, 'When a man or a woman takes a special vow, a vow of a {Nazirite}, to keep separate for Yahweh,

And [when it] was day, the Jews made a conspiracy [and] bound themselves under a curse, saying [they would] neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Now there were more [than] forty who had made this conspiracy, who went to the chief priests and the elders [and] said, "We have bound ourselves under a curse to partake of nothing until we have killed Paul read more.
Therefore, now you along with the Sanhedrin explain to the military tribune that he should bring him down to you, as [if you] were going to determine more accurately the things concerning him. And we are ready to do away with him before he comes near."

And Jacob made a vow saying, "If God will be with me and protect me on this way that I am going, and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and [if] I return in peace to the house of my father, then Yahweh will become my God. And this stone that I have set up [as] a pillar shall be the house of God, and [of] all that you give to me I will certainly give a tenth to you."

And the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh. He passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed through [to] the {Ammonites}. And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, "If indeed you will give the {Ammonites} into my hand, whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the {Ammonites} will be Yahweh's, and I will offer it [as] a burnt offering." read more.
And Jephthah crossed [over] to the {Ammonites} to make war against them; and Yahweh gave them into his hand. And he defeated them [with] a very great blow, from Aroer as far as Minnith, twenty towns, up to Abel Keramim. And the {Ammonites} were subdued before the {Israelites}. Jephthah came to Mizpah, to his house, and behold his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She [was] his only child; he did not have a son or daughter except her. And the moment he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, "Ah! My daughter, you have caused me to bow down, and you have become my trouble. {I made an oath} to Yahweh, and I cannot take [it] back." She said to him, "My father, {you made an oath} to Yahweh. Do to me according to what has gone out from your mouth, since Yahweh gave vengeance to you against your enemies, the {Ammonites}." And she said to her father, "Let this thing be done for me: grant me two months so that I may go wander on the mountains and lament over my virginity, I and my companions. And he said, "Go." He sent her away [for] two months, and she went with her friends, and she lamented over her virginity on the mountains. At the end of the two months she returned to her father, and he did to her [according to] his vow; and {she did not sleep with a man}. And it became an annual custom in Israel for the daughters of Israel to go and lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for forty days of the year.

" 'And if a man consecrates his house [as] a holy object for Yahweh, then the priest shall set a value on it, {either good or bad}; [just] as the priest sets a value on it, so it shall remain. But if the one who consecrates [it] wants to redeem his house, then he shall add a fifth of your proper value's money onto it, and it shall be his.

" 'And if a man consecrates {some of} his property's fields for Yahweh, then your proper value shall be {in accordance with its seed requirements}: a homer of barley seed for fifty shekels of money. If he consecrates his field from the Year of Jubilee, it shall stand as your proper value. But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the money for him {according to the number of years} that are left over until the Year of Jubilee; and it shall be deducted from your proper value. read more.
And if he indeed redeems the field that is consecrated, then he shall add a fifth of your proper value's money onto it, and it shall stand for him. And if he does not redeem the field and if he sells the field to another man, it may not be redeemed again, and the field shall be a holy object for Yahweh when it goes out in the Jubilee, like a devoted field; {it shall be the priest's property}. " 'And if he consecrates for Yahweh his acquired field that [is] not the field of his [inherited] possession, then the priest shall calculate for him the {amount} of your proper value until the year of the Jubilee, and he shall give your proper value on that day [as] a holy object for Yahweh. In the Year of the Jubilee the field shall return to the one who bought it from him, to the one whose property the land [is]. And every proper value of yours shall be in the sanctuary's shekel--the shekel shall be twenty gerahs.

Make vows and fulfill them to Yahweh, your God; let all surrounding him bring tribute to the [one to be] feared.

So the men feared Yahweh {greatly}, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and {made} vows.

So Paul, [after] remaining many days longer, said farewell to the brothers [and] sailed away to Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. He shaved [his] head at Cenchrea, because he had [taken] a vow.

It happened at the end of four years [that] Absalom said to the king, "Please let me go and pay my vow which I have made to Yahweh in Hebron, for your servant made a vow while I [was] staying in Geshur in Aram, saying, '{If Yahweh will indeed let me return} to Jerusalem, then I will worship Yahweh.'"

" 'But if his sacrifice [is] [for] a vow or [as] a freewill offering, it must be eaten on the day of his presenting his sacrifice, and on the next day the remainder from it may be eaten, but the remainder from the sacrifice's meat must be burned up in the fire on the third day. And if indeed some of the meat of his fellowship offerings' sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted; it will not be considered [of benefit] for the one who presented it--it shall be unclean [meat], and the person who eats it shall bear his guilt.

But you say, 'If a man says to his father or to his mother, "Whatever {benefit you would have received} from me [is] corban" (that is, a gift [to God]), you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, [thus] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar [things] such as this."

But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you; I will fulfill what I have vowed. Deliverance [belongs] to Yahweh!"

Now a certain man {named} Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and he kept back for himself [some] of the proceeds, and [his] wife was aware of [it]. And he brought a certain part [and] placed [it] at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, "Ananias, for what [reason] has Satan filled your heart, [that] you lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back for yourself [some] of the proceeds of the piece of land? read more.
[When it] remained to you, did it not remain [yours]? And [when it] was sold, was it at your disposal? How [is it] that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God!" And [when] Ananias heard these words, he fell down [and] died. And great fear came on all those who heard about [it]. So the young men stood up, wrapped him up, and carried [him] out [and] buried [him]. And it happened that [there was] an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you [both] were paid this much [for] the piece of land." And she said, "Yes, this much." So Peter [said] to her, "How [is it] that it was agreed by you [two] to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband [are] at the door, and they will carry you out!" And immediately she fell down at his feet and died. So [when] the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried [her] out [and] buried [her] with her husband. And great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard about these [things].

And he said to his mother, "The eleven hundred [pieces] of silver that were taken from you, and about which you also pronounced a curse {in my hearing}, are with me; I took it." And his mother said, "Blessed be my son by Yahweh." He returned the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother thought, "I will certainly consecrate to Yahweh the pieces of silver from my hand for my son to make an idol of cast metal; now then, I will return them to you."

"I made a covenant with my eyes, so how could I look closely upon a virgin?

So the man Elkanah went up with all his household {to make the annual sacrifice} to Yahweh and [to pay] his vow.

How he swore to Yahweh, he vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

All consecrated possessions in Israel will be for you.