Deuteronomy 23:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not postpone fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt.(A)
Read full chapter
Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.(A) 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it.(B)
Read full chapter
Psalm 66:13-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows,(A)
14 those that my lips uttered
and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.(B)
Psalm 116:18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
Psalm 76:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 Make vows to the Lord your God and perform them;
let all who are around him bring gifts
to the one who is awesome,(A)
Deuteronomy 23:18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.
Read full chapter
Numbers 30
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Vows Made by Women
30 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the Israelites, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.(A)
3 “When a woman makes a vow to the Lord or binds herself by a pledge while within her father’s house, in her youth, 4 and her father hears of her vow or her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father overrules her at the time that he hears of it, no vow of hers and no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand, and the Lord will forgive her because her father overruled her.(B)
6 “If she marries, while obligated by her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself,(C) 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her at the time that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if, at the time that her husband hears of it, he overrules her, then he shall nullify the vow by which she was obligated or the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself, and the Lord will forgive her.(D) 9 (But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall be binding upon her.) 10 And if she made a vow in her husband’s house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath 11 and her husband heard it and said nothing to her and did not overrule her, then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them at the time that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge shall not stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the Lord will forgive her.(E) 13 Any vow or any binding oath to humble herself,[a] her husband may allow to stand or her husband may nullify. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day,[b] then he validates all her vows or all her pledges by which she is obligated; he has validated them because he said nothing to her at the time that he heard of them. 15 But if he nullifies them some time after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her guilt.”(F)
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife and a father and his daughter while she is still young and in her father’s house.(G)
Read full chapter
Matthew 5:33
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Concerning Oaths
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’(A)
Read full chapter
Jonah 1:16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 Then the men feared the Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.(A)
Read full chapter
Psalm 56:12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 My vows to you I must perform, O God;
I will render thank offerings to you.(A)
Leviticus 27:2-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When a person makes an explicit vow to the Lord concerning the equivalent for a human being, 3 the equivalent for a male shall be: from twenty to sixty years of age the equivalent shall be fifty shekels of silver by the sanctuary shekel.(A) 4 If the person is a female, the equivalent is thirty shekels. 5 If the age is from five to twenty years of age, the equivalent is twenty shekels for a male and ten shekels for a female. 6 If the age is from one month to five years, the equivalent for a male is five shekels of silver, and for a female the equivalent is three shekels of silver.(B) 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the equivalent for a male is fifteen shekels and for a female ten shekels. 8 If any cannot afford the equivalent, they shall be brought before the priest and the priest shall assess them; the priest shall assess them according to what each one making a vow can afford.(C)
9 “If the vow concerns an animal that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any such animal that may be given to the Lord shall be holy. 10 Another shall not be exchanged or substituted for it, either good for bad or bad for good, and if one animal is substituted for another, both that one and its substitute shall be holy. 11 If the vow concerns any unclean animal that may not be brought as an offering to the Lord, the animal shall be presented before the priest. 12 The priest shall assess it: whether good or bad, according to the assessment of the priest, so it shall be.(D) 13 But if it is to be redeemed, one-fifth must be added to the assessment.(E)
14 “If a person consecrates a house to the Lord, the priest shall assess it: whether good or bad, as the priest assesses it, so it shall stand. 15 And if the one who consecrates the house wishes to redeem it, one-fifth shall be added to its assessed value, and it shall revert to the original owner.(F)
16 “If a person consecrates to the Lord any inherited landholding, its assessment shall be in accordance with its seed requirements: fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. 17 If the person consecrates the field as of the year of Jubilee, that assessment shall stand, 18 but if the field is consecrated after the Jubilee, the priest shall compute the price for it according to the years that remain until the year of Jubilee, and the assessment shall be reduced.(G) 19 And if the one who consecrates the field wishes to redeem it, then one-fifth shall be added to its assessed value, and it shall revert to the original owner, 20 but if the field is not redeemed or if it has been sold to someone else, it shall no longer be redeemable. 21 But when the field is released in the Jubilee, it shall be holy to the Lord as a devoted field; it becomes the priest’s holding.(H) 22 If someone consecrates to the Lord a field that has been purchased that is not a part of the inherited landholding, 23 the priest shall compute for it the proportionate assessment up to the year of Jubilee, and the assessment shall be paid as of that day, a sacred donation to the Lord.(I) 24 In the year of Jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom it was bought, whose holding the land is.(J) 25 All assessments shall be by the sanctuary shekel: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.(K)
26 “A firstling of animals, however, which as a firstling belongs to the Lord, cannot be consecrated by anyone; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord’s.(L) 27 If it is an unclean animal, it shall be ransomed at its assessment, with one-fifth added; if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at its assessment.(M)
28 “Nothing that a person owns that has been devoted to destruction for the Lord, be it human or animal or inherited landholding, may be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.(N) 29 No human beings who have been devoted to destruction can be ransomed; they shall be put to death.
30 “All tithes from the land, whether the seed from the ground or the fruit from the tree, are the Lord’s; they are holy to the Lord.(O) 31 If persons wish to redeem any of their tithes, they must add one-fifth to them.(P) 32 All tithes of herd and flock, every tenth one that passes under the shepherd’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 Let no one inquire whether it is good or bad or make substitution for it; if one makes substitution for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy and cannot be redeemed.”(Q)
34 These are the commandments that the Lord gave to Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.(R)
Read full chapter
Genesis 35:1-3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jacob Returns to Bethel
35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”(A) 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your clothes;(B) 3 then come, let us go up to Bethel, that I may make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”(C)
Read full chapter
Genesis 28:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,(A)
Read full chapter
Nahum 1:15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 [a]Look! On the mountains the feet of one
who brings good tidings,
who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the wicked invade you;
they are utterly cut off.(A)
Footnotes
- 1.15 2.1 in Heb
Jonah 2:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.