vow

A promise to abstain from something not ordinarily prohibited (e.g., the vow of the Nazirite, Num 6) or, more commonly, an offer to pay God for help. The first vow mentioned in the OT is Jacob’s, who promised God worship and tithing in return for protection (Gen 28:20; Gen 31:13). Similar vows are the vow of Israel to “devote” (i.e., sacrifice) all of Arad to God (Num 21:1-3), Jephthah’s vow of a living being (Judg 11:30), Hannah’s vow of Samuel’s service (1Sam 1:11), Absalom’s vow of worship (2Sam 15:7-8), and the unspecified vow of sailors for safety from shipwreck (Jonah 1:6). In the NT, Acts records that the apostle Paul, to fulfill a vow, cut his hair (Acts 18:18), but we are given no details about the nature or purpose of that vow.