And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it.
- BSB And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One who dwells in it.
- NKJV He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.
- NASB And the one who swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells in it.
- NLT And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it.
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
To swear by the temple is to swear by it and by God who dwells in it. It underscores that God himself stands behind such oaths.
Overview
Because the temple was the dwelling place of God's presence, swearing by it invokes God himself. The leaders could not invoke sacred things while pretending God was not involved. This affirms that God is the witness to all our words, and no appeal to holy things can be detached from him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Kgs 8:13I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.
- Ps 26:8LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
- 2 Chr 6:2But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.
- Ps 132:13–14For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
- 2 Chr 7:2And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’s house.
- Col 2:9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
- Eph 2:22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
- 1 Kgs 8:27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 23:21 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.