'Vow' in the Bible

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,

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.'"

When {the time of Israel's death drew near}, he called to his son, to Joseph. And he said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh, that you might [vow] to deal kindly and faithfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

" '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,

And if anyone brings a sacrifice of fellowship offerings for Yahweh to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the cattle or from the flock, it must be without defect {to be acceptable}; there must not be any physical defect in it.

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.

"Speak to the {Israelites}, and say to them, 'When a man makes a vow according to your proper value [of] persons to Yahweh,

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}.

"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,

" 'All the days of the vow of his separation a razor will not pass over his head. Until fulfilling the days that he separated himself to Yahweh he will be holy and grow long the locks of the hair of his head.

He will rededicate to Yahweh the days of his separation and bring a ram-lamb {in its first year} as a guilt offering. The former days [of his vow] will fall away because his separation was defiled.

" 'This is the regulation of the Nazirite who has made a vow of his offering to Yahweh according to his separation, {in addition to what he can afford}. In accordance to the word of his vow that he vowed, he will do, concerning the instruction of his separation.'"

you will make an offering by fire for Yahweh from the cattle or from the flock, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering or at your feasts, to make a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh.

When you prepare {a bull} as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or fellowship offering for Yahweh,

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."

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.

"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.

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.

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

But if she made a vow [in] her husband's house, or bound herself on a pledge with a sworn oath,

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

{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 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.

"{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 Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, and he said, "If indeed you will give the {Ammonites} into my hand,

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

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

Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion, and to you [the] vow shall be fulfilled.

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

It is better that you not vow than that you vow and not fulfill it.

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.

Therefore do this that we tell you: {we have} four men who have [taken] a vow upon themselves.