neder · vow

What it means

neder (נֶדֶר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “vow”.

A solemn promise made to God; also the thing promised.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A solemn promise to YHWH, and what is given to keep it.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Vow: the solemn promise made to God to give him something or to do something, often if he grants what is asked. It is the noun of נָדַר (‘make a vow’).

• Making a vow with a condition Genesis 28:20Judges 11:301 Samuel 1:11
• Paying one’s vows Psalms 116:14Ecclesiastes 5:4Jonah 1:16
• The Nazirite’s vow Numbers 6:2
• The vow that binds the soul Numbers 30:2
• Sacrifices for a vow Leviticus 7:16Deuteronomy 23:18

Historical and cultural background

The law says that one who vows a vow to YHWH “shall not profane his word; according to all that comes out of his mouth he shall do” (Numbers 30:2). Ecclesiastes advises: “When you vow a vow to Elohim, do not delay to fulfill it” (Ecclesiastes 5:4).

How we translate it

“Vow” 29 times and “vows” 31. נָדַר נֶדֶר is “made a vow” (“Jacob made a vow”, Genesis 28:20) or, keeping the repetition of the Hebrew, “vows a vow” (Numbers 30:2); שִׁלֵּם נֶדֶר is ‘pay the vow’: “My vows to YHWH I will pay” (Psalm 116:14).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• vows ×31
• vow ×29

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Leviticus×6
• Numbers×20
• Deuteronomy×6
• Judges×2
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×2
• Job×1
• Psalms×9
• Proverbs×3
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×3
• Jonah×1
• Nahum×1

• Genesis 28:20

  Jacob made a vow, saying, “If Elohim is with me and keeps me on this way that I am going, and gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear,

• Genesis 31:13

  I am El of Bethel, where you anointed a standing stone, where you made to me a vow. Now get up, leave this land and return to the land of your kindred.’”

• Leviticus 7:16

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

• Leviticus 22:18

  “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them: Any man of the house of Israel or of the resident aliens in Israel who presents his offering, for any of their vows or for any of their freewill offerings that they present to YHWH as a burnt offering,

• Leviticus 22:21

  And when a man presents a sacrifice of peace to YHWH to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, from the herd or from the flock, it shall be without defect to be accepted; no defect shall be in it.

• Leviticus 22:23

  And an ox or a lamb that has a limb too long or stunted you may offer as a freewill offering, it, but for a vow it will not be accepted.

• Leviticus 23:38

  besides the Sabbaths of YHWH, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to YHWH.

• Leviticus 27:2

  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When a man makes a special vow to YHWH according to the valuation of persons,

• Numbers 6:2

  “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: When a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to YHWH,

• Numbers 6:5

  All the days of his vow of consecration no razor shall pass over his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separates himself to YHWH, he shall be holy; he shall let grow loose the hair of his head.

• Numbers 6:21

  This is the instruction for the Nazirite who vows his offering to YHWH for his consecration, besides what his hand can afford; according to his vow that he vows, so he shall do, according to the instruction for his consecration.”

• Numbers 15:3

  and you offer a fire offering to YHWH, a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed times, to make a pleasing aroma to YHWH from the herd or from the flock,

• Numbers 15:8

  And when you offer a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as peace offerings to YHWH,

• Numbers 21:2

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

• Numbers 29:39

  These you shall offer to YHWH at your appointed times, besides your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your libations, and for your peace offerings.”

• Numbers 30:2

  When a man vows a vow to YHWH or swears an oath to bind an obligation on his soul, he shall not profane his word; according to all that comes out of his mouth he shall do.

• Numbers 30:3

  And when a woman vows a vow to YHWH and binds an obligation on herself in the house of her father in her youth,

• Numbers 30:4

  and her father hears her vow and her obligation that she has bound on her soul, and her father keeps silent toward her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation that she has bound on her soul shall stand.

• Numbers 30:5

  But if her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations that she has bound on her soul shall stand; and YHWH will forgive her, because her father forbade her.

• Numbers 30:6

  And if she does belong to a husband while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips that she has bound on her soul,

• Numbers 30:7

  and her husband hears of it and on the day he hears it keeps silent toward her, then her vows shall stand, and her obligations that she has bound on her soul shall stand.

• Numbers 30:8

  But if on the day her husband hears of it he forbids her, then he annuls her vow that is on her and the rash utterance of her lips that she has bound on her soul; and YHWH will forgive her.

• Numbers 30:9

  But the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything that she has bound on her soul, shall stand against her.

• Numbers 30:11

  and her husband heard of it and kept silent toward her and did not forbid her, then all her vows shall stand, and every obligation that she bound on her soul shall stand.

• Numbers 30:12

  But if her husband does annul them on the day he hears of them, nothing that came out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning the obligation of her soul shall stand; her husband has annulled them, and YHWH will forgive her.

• Numbers 30:13

  Every vow and every oath of obligation to afflict the soul, her husband may confirm it, and her husband may annul it.

• Numbers 30:14

  But if her husband indeed keeps silent toward her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her obligations that are on her; he has confirmed them, because he kept silent toward her on the day he heard of them.

• Deuteronomy 12:6

  There you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, your vows and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

• Deuteronomy 12:11

  Then to the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all the choicest of your vows that you vow to YHWH.

• Deuteronomy 12:17

  You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or of your new wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vows that you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand;

• Deuteronomy 12:26

  Only your holy things that you have and your vows you shall take up and go to the place that YHWH chooses,

• Deuteronomy 23:18

  You shall not bring the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog into the house of YHWH your Elohim for any vow, for an abomination to YHWH your Elohim are both of them.

• Deuteronomy 23:21

  When you make a vow to YHWH your Elohim, you shall not delay to pay it, for YHWH your Elohim will surely require it of you, and it will be sin in you.

• Judges 11:30

  Jephthah made a vow to YHWH and said, “If you will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand,

• Judges 11:39

  At the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did with her his vow that he had vowed; and she had not known a man. And it became a statute in Israel:

• 1 Samuel 1:11

  And she made a vow and said, “YHWH Tsevaot, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant and give your servant offspring of men, then I will give him to YHWH all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come up on his head.”

• 1 Samuel 1:21

  The man Elkanah went up with all his household to sacrifice to YHWH the yearly sacrifice and his vow.

• 2 Samuel 15:7

  At the end of forty years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow that I vowed to YHWH, in Hebron.

• 2 Samuel 15:8

  For your servant made a vow while I was living at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If YHWH will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve YHWH.’”

• Job 22:27

  You will pray to him, and he will hear you; and you will pay your vows.

And 20 more times.