41 Bible Verses about Promises, Human

But Abram said to the king of Sodom: I have sworn to Jehovah, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth: I will take nothing. Not a thread or a sandal strap. You will not be able to say: 'I have made Abram rich.' Let the young men who came with me take their portion: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre.

Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham. They said: God is with you in all that you do. Swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity. Consider the kindness that I have shown to you. Please show it to me and to the land in which you have sojourned. Abraham said: I swear it.

When the time drew near for him to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him: Place your hand under my thighs and make a solemn vow that you will not bury me in Egypt. I want to be buried where my fathers are. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried. Joseph answered: I will do as you say. Jacob said: Make a vow that you will. Joseph made the vow. Jacob gave thanks there on his bed.

Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: This is what Jehovah has commanded about vows: If a man makes a vow to Jehovah that he will do something or swears an oath that he will not do something, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said he would do. A young girl, who still lives in her father's house, might make a vow to Jehovah that she will do something or swear an oath that she will not do something.read more.
She must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her father raises an objection when he hears about it. If her father forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. Jehovah will forgive her, because her father refused to let her keep it. If an unmarried woman makes a vow, whether deliberately or carelessly, or promises to abstain from something, and then marries, she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it. If her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. Jehovah will forgive her. A widow or a divorced woman must keep every vow she makes and every promise to abstain from something. If a married woman makes a vow or promises to abstain from something, her husband may hear about it but may say nothing and not object. Then her vow or oath must be kept. But if her husband cancels it when he hears about it, nothing she said in her vow or oath has to be kept. Her husband has canceled it. Jehovah will free her from this vow or oath. A husband decides whether or not his wife has to keep any vow to do something or any oath to do without something. If he says nothing to her about it day after day, this means he decided that she must keep her vow or oath. She must keep it because he said nothing to her when he heard about it. If he cancels it later, he will suffer the consequences. These are the laws Jehovah gave Moses for husbands and wives, and for fathers with young daughters still living at home.

I pray that you will swear to me by Jehovah, since I have showed you kindness that you will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token(sign) (pledge of truth); That you will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers and sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. The men answered her: Our life for yours, if you do not reveal our business. It will be, when Jehovah has given us the land. We will deal kindly and truly with you.read more.
Then she let them down by a cord through the window for her house was upon the town wall. She lived on the wall. She said: Go to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers return and afterward go your way. The men said to her: We will be free from this oath you made us swear. When we come into the land, tie this scarlet cord in the window from which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers and sisters and your father's entire household into your home. Whoever goes out of your house into the street will be responsible for his own life. We will be guiltless: and whoever shall be with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is laid on him. If you tell what we are doing we will be released from the oath you made us swear. She said: Let it be according to your words. They departed and she tied the scarlet line in the window.

Jacob made a vow. He said: If God will be with me and will watch over me on my trip and give me food to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return safely to my father's home, then Jehovah will be my God.

The Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah. He went through Gilead and Manasseh and returned to Mizpah in Gilead and went on to Ammon. Jephthah promised Jehovah: If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will sacrifice with a burnt offering the first person that comes out of my house to meet me, when I return from the victory. I will offer that person to you as a sacrifice. (Jeremiah 19:5)read more.
Jephthah crossed the river to fight the Ammonites, and Jehovah gave him victory. He struck at them from Aroer to the area around Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as Abel Keramim. It was a great slaughter. The Ammonites were defeated by Israel. Jephthah went back home to Mizpah. His daughter came out to meet him, dancing and playing the tambourine. She was his only child. When he saw her, he ripped his clothes in sorrow and said: Oh, my daughter! My heart is breaking! Why must it be you? I have made a solemn promise to Jehovah, and I cannot take it back! She said: If you made a promise to Jehovah, do what you said you would do to me, since Jehovah has given you revenge on your enemies, the Ammonites. She asked her father: Do this for me. Leave me alone for two months, so that I can go with my friends to wander in the mountains and grieve that I must die a virgin. He sent her away for two months. She and her friends went up into the mountains and grieved because she was going to die unmarried and childless. She returned to her father after two months. He did what he had promised Jehovah, and she died still a virgin. This was the origin of the custom in Israel. The Israelite women would go out for four days every year to grieve for the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead.

O Jehovah of Hosts: If you will truly notice the sorrow of your servant. Remember me. Do not turn away from me. If you will give me a son, then I will give him to you, Jehovah, all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut. Hannah prayed to Jehovah for a long time. Eli watched her lips. She prayed silently. Her lips were moving, but she made no sound. So Eli thought that she was drunk.read more.
He said to her: Stop making a drunken show of yourself! Stop your drinking and sober up! No, I am not drunk, she answered. I have not been drinking! I am desperate. I have prayed and poured out my troubles to Jehovah. Do not consider your maidservant a worthless woman. I pray like this because I am miserable and filled with grief. Eli answered: Go in peace. May the God of Israel give you what you have asked of him. Let your maidservant find favor in your sight, she replied. Then she went away, ate some food, and was no longer sad (self-concerned). The next morning Elkanah and his family got up early. After worshiping Jehovah, they went back home to Ramah. Elkanah had intercourse with his wife Hannah and Jehovah answered her prayer. So it was that she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel. She explained: I asked Jehovah for him.

After four years Absalom said to King David: My lord let me go to Hebron and keep a promise I made to Jehovah. When I lived at Geshur in Syria (Aram), I promised Jehovah that if he would take me back to Jerusalem, I would worship him in Hebron. Go in peace, the king said. So Absalom went to Hebron.read more.
He sent messengers to all the tribes of Israel. He told them: When you hear the sound of trumpets, shout: 'Absalom is king in Hebron!' Absalom had two hundred men who at his invitation traveled from Jerusalem with him. They knew nothing of the plot and went in good faith. Absalom was offering sacrifices. He sent for Ahithophel, David's adviser, to come from his home in Giloh. Meanwhile, the conspiracy grew stronger. The number of people siding with Absalom kept getting larger.

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gate keepers, the music-makers, the Nethinim, and all those who made themselves separate from the peoples of the lands, to keep the Law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and wisdom; They were united with their brothers, their rulers, and put themselves under a curse and an oath, to keep their steps in the way of God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to keep and do all the orders of the Jehovah, our Lord, and his decisions and his rules.

You must respect Jehovah your God. Serve him and swear by his name!

But Abram said to the king of Sodom: I have sworn to Jehovah, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth:

Abraham said: I swear it.

Jacob said: Make a vow that you will. Joseph made the vow. Jacob gave thanks there on his bed.

I pray that you will swear to me by Jehovah, since I have showed you kindness that you will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token(sign) (pledge of truth); That you will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers and sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death. The men answered her: Our life for yours, if you do not reveal our business. It will be, when Jehovah has given us the land. We will deal kindly and truly with you.

They were united with their brothers, their rulers, and put themselves under a curse and an oath, to keep their steps in the way of God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to keep and do all the orders of the Jehovah, our Lord, and his decisions and his rules.

David refused to eat anything the day of the funeral even though people tried to persuade him to eat. David vowed: May God strike me dead if I taste any food or anything else before the sun goes down.

Wherever you die, I will die. That is where I will be buried. May Jehovah's worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you!

And all the people were with Saul. There were about twenty thousand men. The fight was general through all the mountains of Ephraim. Saul made a great error that day. He put the people under an oath, saying: Let that man be cursed who eats any food before evening. I have taken vengeance on my enemies. So the people did not eat.

May God deal with me harshly if I do not help David get all that Jehovah promised him when he said: I Jehovah will transfer the kingship from Saul's family and establish David's throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.'

King Solomon took an oath by Jehovah, saying: May God's punishment be on me if Adonijah does not give payment for these words with his life.

A few moments later, those who were near approached and said to Peter: Indeed, you are one of them, because the way you speak gives you away. Then with curses and oaths he said: I do not know the man! And immediately a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus told him: Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times. He went out and wept bitterly.

Peter denied it again. Later the bystanders accused Peter again saying: You cannot deny that you are one of them, because you, too, are from Galilee. Then Peter said: I swear I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I lie! I do not know the man you are talking about! Then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus said: Before the rooster crows two times, you will deny me three times. He broke down and cried.

Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: This is what Jehovah has commanded about vows: If a man makes a vow to Jehovah that he will do something or swears an oath that he will not do something, he must not break his word. He must do everything he said he would do.

Bring your thanks to God as a sacrifice, and pay (make good) your vows to the Most High.

Let your fountain be blessed. Rejoice with the wife of your youth. She is like a loving deer and a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Always be delighted with her love. Why will you be intimate with an immoral woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?read more.
The ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah. He ponders all his paths. His own iniquities will catch the wicked. He will be held with the cords of his sins. He dies without instruction. He goes astray because of his foolishness.

You ask: Why do you not accept our offerings? It is because Jehovah is a witness between you and the wife of your youth. The one to whom you have been unfaithful! She is your companion, the wife of your marriage vows. Did God make you one? Your flesh and spirit belong to him. What does God look for but godly descendants? Do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. I hate divorce and he who covers his garment with violence,' said Jehovah, the God of Israel. Jehovah of Hosts declares: 'Guard yourselves and do not deal treacherously.'

He answered: Have you not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female? For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. The two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What God has joined together, let no man pull apart (separate)!read more.
They asked him: Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, to send her away? He answered: Moses allowed you to send your wives away because of your hardness of heart. It was not allowed from the beginning. I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery. And he who marries her when she is divorced, commits adultery.

Do not swear falsely by my name, so as to profane the name of your God. I am Jehovah.

Never use the name of Jehovah your God in a false and evil way. Jehovah will make sure that anyone who is false, evil, careless and vain with his name will be punished.

When you vow to Jehovah your God do not delay the payback. It would be sin, and Jehovah your God will surely require it of you.

They heal the brokenness of the daughter of my people superficially. They say: 'Peace! Peace!' But there is no peace. Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed! And they did not know how to blush. For that reason they will fall among those who fall. At the time of their punishment they will be brought down, Says Jehovah.

The word of Jehovah continued to come to me: Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own heart (inspiration): 'Listen to the word of Jehovah! The Lord Jehovah said: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.read more.
O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. You have not gone up into the gaps (broken places) of the wall around the house of Israel. You did not build the wall to stand in the battle on the day of Jehovah. They see falsehood and lying divination. They are saying: 'Jehovah declares,' when Jehovah has not sent them. Yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said 'Jehovah declares,' but it is not I who has spoken?'

Let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor. Do not love a false oath (perjury): for all these are things that I hate, said Jehovah.

These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved. For, uttering arrogant words of vanity, they entice in the desires (lusts) of the flesh, by sensuality (lasciviousness), those who are just escaping from the ones who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they are bondservants of corruption. A man is brought into bondage by one and enslaved by another.

It is dangerous to make a vow to God before counting the cost.

At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard the news about Jesus. He told his servants: This is John the Baptist, raised from the dead. That explains the power working in him. Herod locked John in prison to please Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.read more.
For John had said to him: It is not lawful for you to have her. Herod wanted to put him to death but he feared the people since they believed John was a prophet. It was Herod's birthday. The daughter of Herodias danced for him and pleased him. So he promised with an oath to give her anything she wanted. Prompted by her mother, she said: Give me John the Baptist's head on a platter. The king was grieved. He gave his oath and many were watching so he commanded that it be done. He gave the order to behead John in prison. His head was brought on a platter to the young lady. She in turn gave it to her mother.

It was Herod's birthday. He invited his lords, the military commanders, and the prominent men of Galilee to supper. When the daughter of Herodias danced for Herod and his guests, she pleased him so much he promised her anything she desired. He pledged to her, Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.read more.
She asked her mother, What should I ask? And the mother said: The head of John the Baptist. At once she went to the king and asked: Will you give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The king was very sorry. Even so he kept his promise to her. He did not turn her down. This also showed his dinner guests he was a man of his word. He immediately commanded his guard to behead John the Baptist and bring his head to him. He brought his head on a platter and gave it to the young lady. In turn she gave it to her mother.

Woe to you, you blind guides! You say, 'When you swear by the temple, it is nothing.' Then you say, 'When you swear by the gold of the temple, you are obligated.' You fools! You blind men! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? When you swear by an altar, you owe nothing. When you swear by the gift left on the altar, you are obligated.read more.
You blind men! What is more important, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? He who swears by the altar, swears by it and everything on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him that dwells within it. Thus, he who swears by heaven also swears by the throne of God and him who sits on it.

You were also told that you should keep a promise (oath). Always keep your promises (vows) to Jehovah. I tell you, offer no promises at all, not by heaven, because it is God's throne. Not by earth, for it is the footstool under His feet. Not by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.read more.
And do not promise by your head, for you cannot even control the hair on your head. Let your answer be 'Yes' or 'No.' Anything more than this is from the evil one.

It would not be sin if you refrain from vowing. Be careful to perform the promise that comes from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to Jehovah your God. Keep your promise.