PLEDGE (עֵרָבﯴן, H6860, חֶ֫בֶל֒, H2474, עֲבﯴט, H6287). This is exclusively an OT word. Accompanying the word “vow” is spiritual emphasis in the OT. A covenant people would naturally have repeated use for the concepts of pledge and vow.

Genesis 38:17, 18, 20 use the word עֵרָבﯴן, H6860, in the Judah and Tamar account. Exodus 22:26 and Deuteronomy 24:6 uses חֶ֫בֶל֒, H2474, which means basically “to wind tightly” or “bind as with a rope.”

Deuteronomy 24:10, 11, 12, 13 use the form עֲבﯴט, H6287, from the root, which means “to pawn” or “to lend on security.” A pledge, then, is something of value exchanged as security. This goes beyond the common concept of a pledge just as a verbal agreement.

Job 22:6; 24:3, 9; Proverbs 20:16; 27:13; Ezekiel 18:7, 12, 16, and 33:15 use forms of חָבַל֒, H2471. So the most common word to express “pledge” means to bind tightly as with a rope.

The Gr. ἀρραβών, G775, a transliteration of the Sem. term, is used in the NT; “the guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph 1:14) and “the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Cor 5:5).