“‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
Parallel translations
- KJV And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
- BSB You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- NKJV And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
- NASB And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
- NLT “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.
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
Swearing falsely by God's name profanes it and is forbidden.
Overview
This guards the holiness of God's name against being used to back lies or broken oaths. To invoke God in deceit dishonors him directly. Jesus later taught his followers to be so truthful that elaborate oaths become unnecessary, letting their yes be yes and their no be no.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Exod 20:7“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- Deut 5:11“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain: for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
- Lev 18:21“‘You shall not give any of your children to sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- Lev 6:3or has found that which was lost, and dealt falsely therein, and swearing to a lie; in any of these things that a man does, sinning therein;
- Jas 5:12But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear — not by heaven, or by the earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”, “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy.
- Matt 5:33–34“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
- Lev 24:11The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
- Lev 24:15–16You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.
- Ps 15:4In whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear Yahweh; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn’t change;
- Zech 5:4I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Ezek 36:20–23When they came to the nations, where they went, they profaned my holy name; in that men said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and are gone out of his land.
- Jer 4:2and you shall swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. The nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
- Jer 7:9Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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