When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, because He takes no pleasure in fools. Fulfill your vow.
Parallel translations
- WEB When you vow a vow to God, don’t defer to pay it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which you vow.
- KJV When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
- NKJV When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed—
- NASB When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it; for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow!
- NLT When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When you vow to God, pay it promptly, for He takes no pleasure in fools who delay. It matters because broken or neglected promises to God are serious sin.
Overview
The Preacher applies the law of vows (Deuteronomy 23:21-23) to worship. A vow freely made becomes a binding obligation, and to defer payment is folly. The emphasis on integrity before God prepares for the New Testament call to let our yes be yes (Matthew 5:37), reflecting the faithfulness of the God who always keeps His own promises in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Num 30:2If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.
- Deut 23:21–23If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to keep it, because He will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Ps 76:11Make and fulfill your vows to the LORD your God; let all the neighboring lands bring tribute to Him who is to be feared.
- Matt 5:33Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
- Ps 66:13–14I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—
- Ps 50:14Sacrifice a thank offering to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
- Ps 119:106I have sworn and confirmed that I will keep Your righteous judgments.
- Ps 116:14I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people.
- Mal 1:10“Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.
- Heb 10:6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.
- Ps 147:10–11He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legpower of the man.
- Ps 116:16–18Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
- Jonah 2:9But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”
- Gen 28:20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Isa 19:21The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.
- Gen 35:1Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and settle there. Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
- Gen 35:3Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
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Christ at the center
The search that finds everything 'under the sun' to be vapor exposes the emptiness of life without God and drives us to the one who alone gives meaning, the resurrection that makes our labor not in vain.
How Ecclesiastes 5:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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