על החוקים לפרטיהם, ספר ב ט׳On the Special Laws, Book II 9
א׳
1[35] These are the regulations laid down by the law in the case of human beings. For livestock we have the following. If a man sets apart a beast from his stock, if it is a clean specimen of one of the three kinds which are allowed for sacrifice, an ox or sheep or goat, he must sacrifice that particular animal without substituting either a better for a worse or a worse for a better. For God does not delight in the fleshiness or fatness of animals, but in the blameless intention of the votary. But if he does make any exchange, he must consecrate two instead of one, both the original and its substitute.
ב׳
2[36] If he has vowed any of his unclean cattle, he must bring it to the most highly esteemed of the priests, who must assess it not exceeding its proper value and then add a fifth part of that value, so that if a clean animal has to be provided for the sacrifice instead of this one, what is provided may not fall short of the proper value. Further, the intention is to discomfit the votary for having made a vow without reflection under the impression that the impure animal was on this occasion pure, a mistake presumably due to some mental aberration which powerfully affected him.
ג׳
3[37] If he dedicates his house, again he should take a priest as assessor, but the sums to be disbursed by the purchasers vary. If the votary determines to redeem the house, he must spend more freely and add a fifth as a punishment for two bad things, thoughtlessness and lust of possession, the former shown in the matter of his vow, the latter in his desire to regain what he had surrendered. If the purchaser is other than the original owner, he should not pay more than the proper value.
ד׳
4[38] The votary must not interpose long delay in accomplishing his vow. It would be a strange inconsistency if while in our dealings with men we try to antedate fulfilment of our promises, in dealing with God, Who lacks and needs nothing, we should extend it beyond the appointed time. By such slowness and procrastination we convict ourselves of the greatest of iniquities, contempt of Him whose service we must hold to be the beginning and consummation of happiness. This is enough on this subject of oaths and vows.