¹¹ And she ^(A)vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed ^(B)look on the affliction of your servant and ^(C)remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, ^(D)and no razor shall touch his head.”

⁵ for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. ^(A)No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(B)a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall ^(C)begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

⁵ “All the days of his vow of separation, no ^(A)razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. ^(B)He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.

³² And Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben,^[a] for she said, “Because the Lord ^(A)has looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.”

⁴ When ^(A)you vow a vow to God, ^(B)do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. ^(C)Pay what you vow.

¹⁹ They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at ^(A)Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord ^(B)remembered her.

²² Then God ^(A)remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and ^(B)opened her womb.

³⁰ And Jephthah ^(A)made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand,

Women and Vows

³ “If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, ⁴ and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁵ But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her.

⁶ “If she marries a husband, while under her ^(A)vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, ⁷ and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁸ But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her ^(B)vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. ^(C)And the Lord will forgive her.