² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘When a man ^[a]consecrates by a vow certain persons to the Lord, according to your ^[b]valuation,

² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman ^[a]consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, ^(A)to separate himself to the Lord,

²⁸ Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be ^[a]lent to the Lord.” So they ^(A)worshiped the Lord there.

¹¹ Then she ^(A)made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed ^(B)look on the affliction of Your maidservant and ^(C)remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and ^(D)no razor shall come upon his head.”

³⁹ And it was so at the end of two months that she returned to her father, and he ^(A)carried out his vow with her which he had vowed. She ^[a]knew no man.

And it became a custom in Israel

³⁰ And Jephthah ^(A)made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, ³¹ then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, ^(B)shall surely be the Lord’s, ^(C)and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

^21 (A)“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²² But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ^23 (B)That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

³ “Or if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father’s house in her youth,