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22 (A)When you make a vow to the Lord, your God, you shall not delay in fulfilling it; for the Lord, your God, will surely require it of you and you will be held guilty. 23 Should you refrain from making a vow, you will not be held guilty. 24 But whatever your tongue utters you must be careful to do, just as you freely vowed to the Lord, your God, with your own mouth.

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22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty.(A) 23 Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

24 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want, but do not put any in your basket.

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30 [a]Jephthah made a vow to the Lord.(A) “If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said, 31 “whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return from the Ammonites in peace shall belong to the Lord. I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”

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Footnotes

  1. 11:30–40 Jephthah’s rash vow and its tragic consequences reflect a widespread folklore motif, most familiar in the Greek story of Iphigenia and her father, Agamemnon. The sacrifice of children was strictly forbidden by Mosaic law (Lv 18:21; 20:2–5), and when the biblical writers report its occurrence, they usually condemn it in strong terms (2 Kgs 16:3; 21:6; Jer 7:31; 19:5). In this case, however, the narrator simply records the old story, offering no comment on the acceptability of Jephthah’s extreme gesture. The story may have been preserved because it provided an explanation of the custom described in vv. 39–40 according to which Israelite women mourned Jephthah’s daughter annually in a four-day ceremony.

30 And Jephthah made a vow(A) to the Lord: “If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph(B) from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.(C)

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(A)When you make a vow to God, delay not its fulfillment. For God has no pleasure in fools; fulfill what you have vowed. It is better not to make a vow than make it and not fulfill it.

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A dream(A) comes when there are many cares,
    and many words mark the speech of a fool.(B)

When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it.(C) He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.(D)

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