100 Bible Verses about Vows

Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 ESV / 339 helpful votes

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not 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 voice and destroy the work of your hands?

Numbers 30:2 ESV / 283 helpful votes

If a man vows 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.

James 5:12 ESV / 268 helpful votes

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.

Deuteronomy 23:21-23 ESV / 253 helpful votes

“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from vowing, you will not be guilty of sin. You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

Numbers 30:1-16 ESV / 204 helpful votes

Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. If a man vows 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. “If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, 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. 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. ...

Matthew 5:33-37 ESV / 195 helpful votes

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Job 22:27 ESV / 172 helpful votes

You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

Psalm 76:11 ESV / 167 helpful votes

Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them; let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared,

Psalm 61:8 ESV / 165 helpful votes

So will I ever sing praises to your name, as I perform my vows day after day.

Proverbs 20:25 ESV / 163 helpful votes

It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,” and to reflect only after making vows.

1 Samuel 1:11 ESV / 145 helpful votes

And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and 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, and no razor shall touch his head.”

Psalm 61:5 ESV / 138 helpful votes

For you, O God, have heard my vows; you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

Acts 5:1-11 ESV / 130 helpful votes

But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. ...

Psalm 66:13 ESV / 119 helpful votes

I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,

Leviticus 5:4-13 ESV / 109 helpful votes

Or if anyone utters with his lips a rash oath to do evil or to do good, any sort of rash oath that people swear, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it, and he realizes his guilt in any of these; when he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. “But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. He shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer first the one for the sin offering. He shall wring its head from its neck but shall not sever it completely, ...

Nahum 1:15 ESV / 107 helpful votes

Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

Psalm 56:12 ESV / 105 helpful votes

I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you.

Psalm 50:14 ESV / 100 helpful votes

Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,

Genesis 28:20-22 ESV / 99 helpful votes

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, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Psalm 66:14 ESV / 96 helpful votes

That which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.

Psalm 116:14-19 ESV / 81 helpful votes

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, ...

Judges 11:29-40 ESV / 77 helpful votes

Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel. ...

Jonah 1:16 ESV / 73 helpful votes

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV / 71 helpful votes

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Deuteronomy 23:21 ESV / 70 helpful votes

“If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

Numbers 29:39 ESV / 70 helpful votes

“These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.”

Genesis 2:24 ESV / 69 helpful votes

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 68 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV / 68 helpful votes

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Psalm 22:25 ESV / 67 helpful votes

From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

Numbers 6:1-27 ESV / 66 helpful votes

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. ...

John 3:16-17 ESV / 64 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 ESV / 64 helpful votes

When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

Proverbs 7:14 ESV / 61 helpful votes

“I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;

Deuteronomy 23:23 ESV / 59 helpful votes

You shall be careful to do what has passed your lips, for you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God what you have promised with your mouth.

John 3:16 ESV / 58 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 5:33 ESV / 58 helpful votes

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’

Genesis 28:20 ESV / 58 helpful votes

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,

Genesis 31:13 ESV / 56 helpful votes

I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”

1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 55 helpful votes

But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

Malachi 2:16 ESV / 55 helpful votes

“For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

Ephesians 5:33 ESV / 54 helpful votes

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

1 Corinthians 16:14 ESV / 54 helpful votes

Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Peter 4:8 ESV / 53 helpful votes

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Matthew 5:31-32 ESV / 53 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Leviticus 23:38 ESV / 51 helpful votes

Besides the Lord's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 ESV / 50 helpful votes

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

Judges 11:30 ESV / 47 helpful votes

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

Jonah 2:9 ESV / 46 helpful votes

But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Job 31:1 ESV / 46 helpful votes

“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

Ruth 1:16-17 ESV / 46 helpful votes

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Matthew 6:1-34 ESV / 45 helpful votes

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. ...

Matthew 4:1-25 ESV / 45 helpful votes

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ...

Revelation 1:1 ESV / 44 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 41 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Psalm 116:18 ESV / 40 helpful votes

I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,

Hebrews 13:4 ESV / 39 helpful votes

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

Ephesians 5:22 ESV / 39 helpful votes

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:21 ESV / 39 helpful votes

The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.

James 4:14 ESV / 38 helpful votes

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Mark 10:11 ESV / 36 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her,

Matthew 5:31 ESV / 36 helpful votes

“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’

Leviticus 19:12 ESV / 36 helpful votes

You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

Genesis 2:1-25 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, ...

Psalm 50:15 ESV / 35 helpful votes

And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

Leviticus 7:16 ESV / 34 helpful votes

But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.

Numbers 21:2 ESV / 32 helpful votes

And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”

Psalm 65:1 ESV / 31 helpful votes

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.

1 Samuel 1:1-28 ESV / 31 helpful votes

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. ...

Judges 11:39 ESV / 31 helpful votes

And at the end of two months, she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made. She had never known a man, and it became a custom in Israel

Leviticus 27:1-34 ESV / 30 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. ...

John 14:6 ESV / 28 helpful votes

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 23:12-15 ESV / 26 helpful votes

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

2 Samuel 15:8 ESV / 26 helpful votes

For your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the Lord will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will offer worship to the Lord.’”

Mark 10:2-12 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ...

Colossians 3:14 ESV / 24 helpful votes

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Proverbs 12:25 ESV / 23 helpful votes

Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

Leviticus 27:1-13 ESV / 23 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. ...

Mark 7:11-13 ESV / 22 helpful votes

But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Matthew 12:36-37 ESV / 22 helpful votes

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Leviticus 7:16-18 ESV / 22 helpful votes

But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten. But what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned up with fire. If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, he who offers it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be credited to him. It is tainted, and he who eats of it shall bear his iniquity.

Judges 21:6 ESV / 21 helpful votes

And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe is cut off from Israel this day.

Ephesians 4:2 ESV / 20 helpful votes

With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Romans 13:8 ESV / 20 helpful votes

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

John 15:12 ESV / 20 helpful votes

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Song of Solomon 8:6 ESV / 19 helpful votes

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.

Ecclesiastes 5:5 ESV / 19 helpful votes

It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.

Leviticus 22:18-25 ESV / 18 helpful votes

“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar. ...

Luke 16:18 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Matthew 19:9 ESV / 17 helpful votes

And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

Malachi 1:14 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.

Proverbs 3:3-4 ESV / 17 helpful votes

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

Numbers 30:6 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“If she marries a husband, while under her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself,

Leviticus 27:16-25 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. ...

Leviticus 27:14 ESV / 17 helpful votes

“When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand.

Genesis 28:21 ESV / 17 helpful votes

So that I come again to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,

Luke 1:37 ESV / 16 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Matthew 5:37 ESV / 16 helpful votes

Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Matthew 5:32 ESV / 16 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 16 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

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