Swearing

Concept

Biblical swearing (oath-taking) involved calling upon God as witness to guarantee the truth of a statement or the binding force of a promise. The OT permitted and even regulated oaths: "You shall fear the LORD your God, you shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear" (Deut. 10:20). Oaths were sworn by God's name (Gen. 21:23), by God's life (1 Sam. 14:39), and by the temple or the king. False swearing (perjury) was strictly condemned as profaning God's name (Lev. 19:12; Zech. 5:3).

Jesus's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount raised the standard: "Do not swear at all... Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil" (Matt. 5:34–37). James echoes this directly (James 5:12). Many interpreters understand Jesus to prohibit casual or trivial oath-taking rather than all formal oaths — Paul himself uses oath-like expressions in his letters (2 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 1:20), and God swore by himself to Abraham (Heb. 6:13–17).