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

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)

¹¹ She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,^[a] and no razor shall touch his head.”^(A)

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)

Reverence, Humility, and Contentment

5 ^[a]Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools, for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.^{[b](A) 2 [c]}Never be rash with your mouth nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.^(B)

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)