A VOW — a binding promise made to God, often conditional ('if you will… then I will'). Hannah 'vowed a vow' (nadrah neder, 1:11): if Jehovah gives her a son she will give him back for life. The Law treats a vow with the utmost seriousness — 'when you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it' (Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4) — and Hannah keeps hers to the letter, carrying the weaned child to Shiloh and leaving him there. → first discussed at 1 Samuel 1:11