You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.
- KJV And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy 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 20:7You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- Deut 5:11You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
- Lev 18:21You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- Lev 6:3or finds lost property and lies about it and swears falsely, or if he commits any such sin that a man might commit—
- Jas 5:12Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.
- Matt 5:33–34Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’
- Lev 24:11The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse. So they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)
- Lev 24:15–16And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin.
- Ps 15:4who despises the vile but honors those who fear the LORD, who does not revise a costly oath,
- Zech 5:4I will send it out, declares the LORD of Hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by My name. It will remain inside his house and destroy it, down to its timbers and stones.”
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Ezek 36:20–23And wherever they went among the nations, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, yet they had to leave His land.’
- Jer 4:2and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”
- Jer 7:9Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.