Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
Parallel translations
- WEB But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No.’ Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
- KJV But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
- NKJV But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
- NASB But make sure your statement is, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil origin.
- NLT Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.
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
Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'No'; more than this is from the evil one. It calls for simple, reliable truthfulness.
Overview
Jesus sums up His teaching on oaths: a disciple's word should be so dependable that simple yes or no suffices. The need for embellishing oaths arises from a world of deceit, which is of the evil one. This reflects the integrity that befits children of the God of truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- 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.
- Col 4:6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Col 3:9Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices,
- 2 Cor 1:17–20When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” when I really mean “No, no”?
- John 8:44You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Eph 4:25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.
- 2 Th 3:3But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
- Matt 13:19When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
- Matt 13:38The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
- Matt 6:13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
- 1 Jn 5:18We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.
- 1 Jn 2:13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
- 1 Jn 3:12Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
- John 17:15I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
- Matt 15:19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
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 5:37 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.