Reference: VOW
American
A promise made to God of doing some good thing or abstaining from some lawful enjoyment, under the influence of gratitude for divine goodness, of imminent danger, the apprehension of future evils, or the desire of future blessings. To fulfill a vow binding one to sin, was to all sin to sin; but no considerations of inconvenience or loss could absolve one from a vow, Ps 15:4; Mal 1:14. Jacob, going into Mesopotamia, vowed the tenth of his estate, and promised to offer it at Beth-el, to the honor of God, Ge 28:20-22. Moses enacted several laws for the regulation and execution of vows. "If thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee; that which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform," De 23:21,23; Ec 5:4-5. The vows of minors, etc., were not binding without the consent of the head of the family, Nu 30. A man might devote himself or his children to the Lord, Nu 6:2. Jephthah devoted his daughter, Jg 11:30-40; and Samuel was vowed and consecrated to the service of the Lord, 1Sa 1:11,27-28. If men or women vowed themselves to the Lord, they were obliged to adhere strictly to his service, according to the conditions of the vow; but in some cases they might be redeemed, Le 27. These self-imposed services were more in keeping with the ancient dispensation, in which outward sacrifices and observances had so large a share, than with enlightened Christianity. See CORBAN, and NAZARITES.
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Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, and returns me safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God, read more. this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."
"Tell the Israelis that a man or woman who commits to the vow of the Nazirite, is to be separated to the LORD,
"When you make a vow to the LORD your God, don't delay paying it, because the LORD your God will certainly demand payment from you, and then you will be guilty of sin.
Be sure you do whatever you promise, because you have given your word voluntarily to the LORD your God.
Jephthah made this solemn vow to the LORD: "If you truly give the Ammonites into my control, then if I return from the Ammonites without incident, whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me will become the LORD's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." read more. Then Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites and attacked them. The LORD gave them into his control. He attacked them from Aroer to the entrance of Minnith twenty cities in all even as far as Abel-keramim. As a result, the Ammonites were subdued right in front of the Israelis. When Jephthah arrived at his home in Mizpah surprise! it was his daughter who came out to meet him, playing tambourines and dancing. She was his one and only child. Except for her, he had no other son or daughter. When he saw her, he ripped his clothes and cried out, "Oh no! My daughter! You have terribly burdened me! You've joined those who are causing me trouble, because I've given my word to the LORD, and I cannot go back on it. She told him, "My father, you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me according to what has come out of your own mouth, considering that the LORD has paid back your enemies, the Ammonites." Then she continued talking with her father, "Do this for me: leave me alone by myself for two months. I'll go up to the mountains and cry there because I'll never marry. My friends and I will go." So he said, "Go!" He sent her away for two months. She left with her friends and cried there on the mountains because she would never marry. Later, after the two months were concluded, she returned to her father, and he fulfilled what he had solemnly vowed and she never married. That's how the custom arose in Israel that for four days out of every year the Israeli women would go to mourn the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite in commemoration.
Hannah made a vow: "LORD of the Heavenly Armies, if you just look at the misery of your maid servant, remember me, and don't forget your maid servant. If you give your maid servant a son, then I'll give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and a razor is never to touch his head."
I prayed for this boy, and the LORD granted me the request I asked of him. Now I'm dedicating him to the LORD, and as long as he lives, he will be dedicated to the LORD." Then they worshipped the LORD there.
The one who despises those who are utterly wicked, but who honors the one who fears the LORD, who keeps his word even when it hurts and does not change,
When you make a promise to God, don't fail to keep it, since he isn't pleased with fools. Keep what you promise it's better that you don't promise than that you do promise and not follow through.
"Cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock, and vows to give it, but sacrifices a mutilated one to the LORD. Indeed, I am a great king," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "and my name is feared among the Gentiles."
Fausets
To be taken voluntarily; but when taken to be conscientiously fulfilled (De 23:21-23; Ec 5:5; Ne 1:11; Psalm 1.14; Pr 20:25). The Nazarite however was often dedicated froth infancy by the parent. (See NAZARITE.) For instances (See JACOB (Ge 28:20-22 with Ge 31:13; 35:1-4). (See JACOB.) Vows were of three kinds:
(1) vow of devotion, neder;
(2) of abstinence, 'esar (See CORBAN) ;
(3) of destruction, cherem (Ezr 10:8; Mic 4:13) (See ANATHEMA.)
A man could not devote to sacred uses the firstborn of man or beast, as being devoted already (Le 27:26). The law of redeeming vowed land is given (Le 27:15,24; 25:27). An animal fit for sacrifice could not be redeemed; any attempting it had to bring both the animal and its changeling (Le 27:9-10,33). An animal unfit for sacrifice, adding a fifth (Le 27:12-13).
A devoted person became a servant of the sanctuary (2Sa 15:8). The vow of a daughter or a wife was void if disallowed by the father or husband, otherwise it was binding (Nu 30:3-16). The wages of impurity was excluded from vows (De 23:17-18); "dog" means "Sodomite" (Mic 1:7). In Ashtoreth's and the Babylonian Mylitta's worship prostitution for hire devoted to the idol was usual (Le 19:29; 2Ki 23:7). The head was shaven after a vow (Ac 18:18; 21:24).
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Then he made this solemn vow: "If God remains with me, watches over me throughout this journey that I'm taking, gives me food to eat and clothes to wear, and returns me safely to my father's house, then the LORD will be my God, read more. this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."
I am the God of Bethel, the place where you consecrated that stone and made a vow to me. Now get up, leave this territory, and return to your native land.'"
Later, God told Jacob, "Get up, move to Bethel, and live there. Build an altar to the God who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau." Jacob announced to his household and to everyone with him, "Throw away the foreign gods that you've kept among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes. read more. Then let's get up and go to Bethel, where I'll build an altar to the God who answered me when I was in distress and who was with me on the road, wherever I went." So they handed over to Jacob all their foreign gods on which they had been depending, along with the rings that they were wearing on their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that grew near Shechem.
"You are not to defile your daughter by engaging her in prostitution so the land won't become filled with wickedness.
then let him account for the years for which it was sold, return the excess to the person to whom it was sold, and then return to his property.
"If it's an animal from which they make an offering to the LORD, everything that he gives to the LORD from it will be holy. He is not to substitute it or exchange it the good with the bad or the bad with the good. If he ever makes an exchange of an animal for an animal, then it and what's being exchanged is holy.
then the priest will evaluate it as to whether it is good or bad. According to your that is, the priest's valuation, so it is to be. If a kinsman redeemer decides to redeem it, then he is to add a fifth to your valuation."
And if he that consecrated it wishes to redeem his house, he is to add one fifth to your valuation, after which it is to belong to him.
During the year of jubilee, the field is to be returned by the one who originally sold it that is, to the owner of the land.
"No person is to consecrate the firstborn, because the firstborn of the animals already belongs to the LORD. Whether ox or goat, it belongs to the LORD.
He is not to examine it to see if it's good or bad or even exchange it. If he does exchange it, what has been exchanged as well as its substitute is sacred. It is not to be redeemed."
"When a young woman makes a vow to the LORD or pledges herself to an obligation while she still lives in her father's house, and her father hears her vow and the obligations that she had pledged herself to fulfill, yet her father keeps silent about it, then all her vows and every obligation she pledged herself to are to stand. read more. But if her father disallows her on the same day that he hears what she has said, then all her vows and every obligation she had pledged herself to fulfill are not to stand. The LORD will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her." "If she has a husband and she makes a vow that is binding on herself, or if she makes a hasty vow with her mouth that she pledges herself to fulfill, and her husband hears her vow, yet remains silent on the day that he hears it, then her vows are to stand and the obligation to which she had pledged herself is to stand. But if, on the same day her husband hears and disallows her, then he has revoked her vows that she made for herself, along with any hasty vows that she spoke and to which she pledged herself to fulfill. The LORD will forgive her." "Everything that a widow or a divorced woman pledges herself to fulfill are to be binding on her. If, while she had been living in her late or former husband's house, she makes a vow or a promise that binds her with an oath, and her husband hears it but remains silent, not disallowing it, then all her vows are to stand, along with every obligation that she has pledged to fulfill. But if her husband disallowed them the very day that he heard her, everything that she spoke relating to her vows and her obligation to herself are not to stand, because her husband revoked them. The LORD will forgive her. Her husband may confirm or revoke every vow and binding obligation that afflicts her. But if her husband remains silent about her from day to day, then he has affirmed all her vows or obligations that she has obligated herself to fulfill. He has affirmed them because he remained silent from the day he heard her vows. But if he nullified them after he had heard, then he will be responsible for any resulting iniquity." These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning a man and his wife and concerning a father and his young daughter while she still lives in her father's house.
"There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel. Don't bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the LORD your God."
"When you make a vow to the LORD your God, don't delay paying it, because the LORD your God will certainly demand payment from you, and then you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, then you won't be guilty. read more. Be sure you do whatever you promise, because you have given your word voluntarily to the LORD your God.
because when I was living at Geshur in Aram, your servant made this solemn promise: "If the LORD ever brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.'"
Whoever would not come within three days would forfeit his assets and be separated from the community of the returning exiles, just as the high officials and elders had advised.
"And now, Lord, I ask you to listen to the prayer of your servant and to the prayers of your servants who delight in revering your Name. I ask you, please prosper your servant today by granting him to receive favor from this man." Now I was the king's senior security advisor.
It is a trap for a person to declare quickly, "This is sacred," and only later to have second thoughts about the vows.
it's better that you don't promise than that you do promise and not follow through.
All of her carved images will be crushed to pieces, all the earnings of her prostitution will be burned up, and I will destroy all her idols; because she collected the wages of prostitution, and to the wages of prostitution they will return."
Get up and smash them to pieces, daughter of Zion, because I will make your horn like iron and your hooves like bronze! And you will beat many people to pieces, and I will consecrate their dishonest gain to the LORD and their assets to the Lord of the entire earth."
After staying there for quite a while longer, Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut in Cenchrea, since he was under a vow.
Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law.
Watsons
VOW, a promise made to God, of doing some good thing hereafter. The use of vows is observable throughout Scripture. When Jacob went into Mesopotamia, he vowed to God the tenth of his estate, and promised to offer it at Bethel, to the honour of God, Ge 28:22. Moses enacts several laws for the regulation and execution of vows. A man might devote himself, or his children, to the Lord. Jephthah devoted his daughter, Jg 11:30-31. Samuel was vowed or consecrated to the service of the Lord before his birth, by his pious mother Hannah; and was really offered to him, to serve in the tabernacle, 1Sa 1:21, &c. If a man and woman vowed themselves to the Lord, they were obliged to adhere strictly to his service, according to the conditions of the vow; but in some cases they might be redeemed. A man from twenty years of age till sixty, gave fifty shekels of silver; and a woman thirty, Le 27:3. From the age of five years to twenty, a man gave twenty shekels, and a woman ten; from a month old to five years, they gave for a boy five shekels, and for a girl three. A man of sixty years old, or upward, gave fifteen shekels, and a woman of the same age gave ten. If the person was poor, and could not procure this sum, the priest imposed a ransom upon him, according to his abilities. If any one had vowed an animal that was clean, he had not the liberty of redeeming it, or of exchanging it, but was obliged to sacrifice it to the Lord. If it was an unclean animal, and such as was not allowed to be sacrificed, the priest made a valuation of it; and if the proprietor would redeem it, he added a fifth part to the value, by way of forfeit. They did the same in proportion, when the thing vowed was a house or a field. They could not devote the first born, because in their own nature they belonged to the Lord, Le 27:28-29. Whatever was devoted by way of anathema, could not be redeemed, of whatever nature or quality it was. An animal was put to death, and other things were devoted for ever to the Lord. The consecration of Nazarites was a particular kind of vow. The vows and promises of children were void, of course, except they were ratified either by the express or tacit consent of their parents. It was the same with the vows of a married woman; they were of no validity, except confirmed by the express or tacit consent of her husband, Numbers 30. But widows, or liberated wives, were bound by their vows, whatever they were.
Whosoever invokes the awful name of God to witness, any untruth, knowing it to be such, is guilty of taking it in vain. Our Lord did not mean to preclude solemn appeals to heaven, whether oaths or vows, in courts of justice, or in important compacts. For an oath, or appeal to the greatest of all beings, as the Searcher of hearts, to witness a transaction, and to punish falsehood or perjury, is necessary, for putting an end to all strife or controversy among men, to promote confirmation or security of property, Heb 6:16. And it was sanctioned by the example of God, swearing by himself, Ge 22:15; Heb 6:17-18; and by the example of the patriarchs and saints of old; thus Abraham swore by the most high God, Creator of heaven and earth, Ge 14:22; the transjordanite tribes, by the God of gods, the Lord, Jos 22:22. And the law prescribed, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name," De 6:13. And afterward, "All Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn unto the Lord with a loud voice, with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them; and the Lord gave them rest round about," 2Ch 15:14-15. And a highly gifted Apostle uses the following most solemn asseveration, "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not," 2Co 11:31. See the vows of the priests and Levites, to put away strange wives, Ezr 10:5; and to take no usury from their brethren, Ne 10:29, St. Paul also vowed a vow, which he performed, Ac 18:18; 21:23. Our Lord, therefore, reenacted the law, while he guarded against the abuse of it, by prohibiting all oaths in common conversation, as a profanation either of God's name, where that was irreverently used, or where any of his works was substituted instead of the awful and terrible name of the Lord, which the Jews, through superstitious dread, at length ceased to use, from misinterpretation of De 28:58: "But I say unto you, Swear not at all," in common conversation, by any of your usual oaths, "neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, &c. For, by the detestable casuistry of the scribes and Pharisees, some oaths were reckoned binding, others not, as we learn from the sequel; thus, to swear by the temple, the altar, heaven, &c, they considered as not binding: but to swear by the gold of the temple, by the gift on the altar, &c, they considered as binding; the absurdity and impiety of which practice is well exposed by our Lord in Mt 23:16-22.
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But Abram answered the king of Sodom, "I have made an oath to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
this stone that I've erected in the form of a pillar will be God's house, and I'll give you a tenth of everything that you give to me."
if your valuation of the vow is for a male from 20 to 60 years old, the valuation is to be 50 shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.
However, any devoted thing that a person consecrates to the LORD from what he owns whether man, animals, or inherited fields is not to be sold or redeemed. Any devoted thing is most sacred. It belongs to the LORD. But anyone who is completely devoted from among human beings is not to be ransomed. He is certainly to be put to death.
Fear the LORD your God, serve him, and make your oaths in his name.
"If you aren't careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God,
"The God of gods, the LORD, the God of gods, the LORD is the one who knows! And may Israel itself be aware that if this was an act of rebellion or an act of treachery against the LORD, may he not deliver us today!
Jephthah made this solemn vow to the LORD: "If you truly give the Ammonites into my control, then if I return from the Ammonites without incident, whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me will become the LORD's, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering."
Then Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the yearly sacrifice to the LORD and pay his vow.
They also made a vow to the LORD with loud voices, shouting, trumpets, and horns. Everybody in Judah was very glad to make their oath, because they had made their vow with all their heart and had sought him with all of their might, and they found him! The LORD also gave them rest in their surrounding lands.
So Ezra got up and made the chief priests, the descendants of Levi, and all of Israel vow to carry out everything they promised. And so they agreed.
joined with their relatives and their leaders. They entered into an oath enforced by a curse to walk in God's Law that was given through God's servant Moses, and to be careful to obey all of the commands of the LORD, our Lord, as well as his regulations and statutes:
"How terrible it will be for you, blind guides! You say, "Whoever swears an oath by the sanctuary is excused, but whoever swears an oath by the gold of the sanctuary must keep his oath.' You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the sanctuary that made the gold holy? read more. Again you say, "Whoever swears an oath by the altar is excused, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it must keep his oath.' You blind men! Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? Therefore, the one who swears an oath by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. The one who swears an oath by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who lives there. And the one who swears an oath by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.
After staying there for quite a while longer, Paul said goodbye to the brothers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut in Cenchrea, since he was under a vow.
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument. In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, read more. so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us.