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) 6} Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words and destroy the work of your hands?

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)

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)

Do Not Rob God

⁸ Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings!^{(A) 9} You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! ¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.^(B)

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.

¹⁵ “When any of you commit a trespass and sin unintentionally against any of the holy things of the Lord, you shall bring, as your guilt offering to the Lord, a ram without blemish from the flock, convertible into silver by the sanctuary shekel; it is a guilt offering.^(A)

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.^{(A) 31} If persons wish to redeem any of their tithes, they must add one-fifth to them.^(B)