'Vow' in the Bible

Then Jacob made a vow: “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear,

I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me. Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.’”

“If the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it is to be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and what is left over may be eaten on the next day.

“When a man presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or flock, it has to be unblemished to be acceptable; there must be no defect in it.

You may sacrifice as a freewill offering any animal from the herd or flock that has an elongated or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable as a vow offering.

These are in addition to the offerings for the Lord’s Sabbaths, your gifts, all your vow offerings, and all your freewill offerings that you give to the Lord.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When someone makes a special vow to the Lord that involves the assessment of people,

But if one is too poor to pay the assessment, he must present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.

“If the vow involves one of the animals that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any of these he gives to the Lord will be holy.

“If the vow involves any of the unclean animals that may not be brought as an offering to the Lord, the animal must be presented before the priest.

“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When a man or woman makes a special vow, a Nazirite vow, to consecrate himself to the Lord,

He is not to eat anything produced by the grapevine, from seeds to skin, during his vow.

“You must not cut his hair throughout the time of his vow of consecration. He must be holy until the time is completed during which he consecrates himself to the Lord; he is to let the hair of his head grow long.

“This is the ritual of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord for his consecration, in addition to whatever else he can afford; he must fulfill whatever vow he makes in keeping with the ritual for his consecration.”

and you make a fire offering to the Lord from the herd or flock—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed festivals—to produce a pleasing aroma for the Lord,

“If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a fellowship offering to the Lord,

Then Israel made a vow to the Lord, “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will completely destroy their cities.”

“You must offer these to the Lord at your appointed times in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt, grain, drink, or fellowship offerings.”

When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.

“When a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the Lord or puts herself under an obligation,

and her father hears about her vow or the obligation she put herself under, and he says nothing to her, all her vows and every obligation she put herself under are binding.

But if her husband prohibits her when he hears about it, he will cancel her vow that is binding or the rash commitment she herself made, and the Lord will forgive her.

“Every vow a widow or divorced woman puts herself under is binding on her.

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

Her husband may confirm or cancel any vow or any sworn obligation to deny herself.

You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the Lord.

Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions.

“But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the Lord chooses.

Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s earnings into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin.

But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin.

Jephthah made this vow to the Lord: “If You will hand over the Ammonites to me,

At the end of two months, she returned to her father, and he kept the vow he had made about her. And she had never been intimate with a man. Now it became a custom in Israel

Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”

When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice and his vow offering to the Lord,

“As for me, I vow that I will not sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way.

When four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I made to the Lord.

For your servant made a vow when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying: If the Lord really brings me back to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord in Hebron.”

and how he swore an oath to the Lord,making a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:

When you make a vow to God, don’t delay fulfilling it, because He does not delight in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

Better that you do not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Hosts, “and My name will be feared among the nations.

So Paul, having stayed on for many days, said good-bye to the brothers and sailed away to Syria. Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He shaved his head at Cenchreae because he had taken a vow.

Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have obligated themselves with a vow.