A promise is a promise, and there is no loophole in God’s eyes to allow a person to renege on an oath. Oaths are binding, even when spoken frivolously or privately as part of everyday conversation. Psalm 15:4 describes a righteous person as one “who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind.” Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 supports this biblical principle. There’s no need for overwrought expressions to bolster your case. In fact, all you need to say is “yes” or “no.” Your word should be good. If you swear something, it had better be true, He says. They could lie or exaggerate in their conversations and lend themselves an air of credibility by saying, “I swear by heaven that this is true!” They could not be held to account because they did not specifically swear by God’s name and the vow was private. The religious leaders of the day advocated keeping a vow if it was a public vow using God’s name however, if the vow was made in the course of everyday conversation, referencing only “heaven” or “earth” or “Jerusalem,” it was not really binding.

Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No ,’ ‘No’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:33–37).Ī little background information is helpful in understanding Jesus’ words here. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Jesus taught concerning vows, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne or by the earth, for it is his footstool or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. What this account shows is the foolishness of rash vows. Whether or not Jephthah should have kept this vow is dealt with in another article. Jephthah remembered his vow and offered her to the Lord (Judges 11:29–40). When the Lord granted him victory, the one who came out to meet him was his daughter. Before leading the Israelites into battle against the Ammonites, Jephthah-described as a mighty man of valor-made a rash vow that he would give to the Lord whoever first came out of doors to meet him if he returned home as the victor. The story of Jephthah illustrates the foolishness of making vows without understanding the consequences. There were dire consequences for the Israelites who broke vows, especially vows to God. The books of Leviticus and Numbers have several references to vows in relation to offerings and sacrifices. There are about 30 biblical references to vows, most of which are from the Old Testament.

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