Matthew Poole and continuators on Ecclesiastes 5:4

4 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.

Which is a solemn Promise whereby a Man binds himself to do somthing which is in his power to do.

Perform it whilst the sense of thine Obligation is fresh and strong upon thee, lest either thou seem to repent of thy Promises, or lest delays end in [illegible: 1+ letters]enials and resolutions of Non-performance. See Numb. 30. 2. Deut. 23. 21. Ps. 66. 13, 14. & 76. 11.

In hypocritical and perfidious Persons who, when they are in distress, make liberal Vows, and when the danger is past neglect and break them: whom he calls fools, partly because it is the highest folly to despise and provoke, to think to mock and deceive, the All-seeing and Almighty God, and partly in opposition to the contrary Opinion of such Persons, who think they deal wisely and cunningly in serving themselves of God, by getting the advantage or deliverance which they desire by making such Vows, and yet avoiding the inconvenience and charge of payment, when once the work is done, whereas nothing is more impious or ridiculous than such an imagination.

Marginal references: Deut. 23. 21, 22. Ps. 50. 14.; Ps. 66. 13, 14.