For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.
Parallel translations
- KJV For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
- BSB Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.
- NKJV For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.
- NASB For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute.
- NLT Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
People swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath settles disputes with final confirmation. Human practice illustrates how an oath gives certainty.
Overview
The writer appeals to a common feature of human life: an oath invoking a higher authority ends argument and confirms a matter. This everyday principle prepares the argument that God's oath gives believers absolute assurance. It shows how God condescends to human ways of guaranteeing truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 22:11the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, whether he hasn’t put his hand to his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution.
- Heb 6:13For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself,
- Gen 14:22Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
- Gen 21:30–31He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well.”
- Josh 9:15–20Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them, to let them live. The princes of the congregation swore to them.
- Ezek 17:16–20“‘As I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the middle of Babylon he will die.
- Gen 31:53The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” Then Jacob swore by the fear of his father, Isaac.
- Gen 21:23Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner.”
- 2 Sam 21:2The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the children of Israel had sworn to them; and Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah);
- Matt 23:20–22He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.
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Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
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Original language
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