making promises

³³Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients: ‘You shall not swear falsely. For you shall repay your oaths to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I say to you, do not swear an oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵nor by earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. ³⁶Neither shall you swear an oath by your own head, because you are not able to cause one hair to become white or black. ³⁷But let your word ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and ‘No’ mean ‘No.’ For anything beyond that is of evil.

²And he said to the leaders of the tribes of the sons of Israel: “This is the word, which the Lord has instructed:

¹²But before all things, my brothers, do not choose to swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor in any other oath. But let your word ‘Yes’ be yes, and your word ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.

²¹When you have made a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not be late in paying it. For the Lord your God demands it. And if you delay, it shall be imputed to you as a sin. ²²If you are not willing to make a promise, then it shall be without sin. ²³But as soon as it has departed from your lips, you shall observe and do just as you have promised to the Lord your God and just as you have spoken by your own free will and with your own mouth.

²⁵It is ruin for a man to devour what is holy, or, after making vows, to retract them.

²⁰For whatever promises are of God are, in him, Yes. For this reason, too, through him: Amen to God for our glory.

¹You should not speak anything rashly, nor should your heart be hasty to present a word before God. For God is in heaven, and you are on earth. For this reason, let your words be few. ²Dreams follow many worries, and in many words foolishness will be found. ³If you have vowed anything to God, you should not delay to repay it. And whatever you have vowed, render it. But an unfaithful and foolish promise displeases him. ⁴And it is much better not to make a vow, than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised. ⁵You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, “There is no Providence.” For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands. ⁶Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities and innumerable words. Yet truly, you must fear God.

⁴In his sight, the malicious one has been reduced to nothing, but he glorifies those who fear the Lord. He who swears to his neighbor and does not deceive.

⁴And it is much better not to make a vow, than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised. ⁵You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, “There is no Providence.” For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands.

¹³For God, in making promises to Abraham, swore by himself, (because he had no one greater by whom he might swear), ¹⁴saying: “Blessing, I shall bless you, and multiplying, I shall multiply you.” ¹⁵And in this way, by enduring patiently, he secured the promise. ¹⁶For men swear by what is greater than themselves, and an oath as confirmation is the end of all their controversy. ¹⁷In this matter, God, wanting to reveal more thoroughly the immutability of his counsel to the heirs of the promise, interposed an oath, ¹⁸so that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest solace: we who have fled together so as to hold fast to the hope set before us.

¹⁹God is not like a man, so that he would lie, nor is he like a son of man, so that he would be changed. Therefore, having spoken, will he not act? Has he ever spoken, and not fulfilled?

¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, and entering into a pact, he promised that they would not be put to death. The leaders of the multitude also swore to them.

²⁰And then he made a vow, saying: “If God will be with me, and will guard me along the way by which I walk, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ²¹and if I will return prosperously to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God, ²²and this stone, which I have set up as a monument, will be called ‘the House of God.’ And from all the things that you will give to me, I will offer tithes to you.”

¹¹And she made a vow, saying, “O Lord of hosts, if, in looking with favor, you will see the affliction of your servant and will remember me, and will not forget your handmaid, and if you will give to your servant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall pass over his head.”

³⁰he made a vow to the Lord, saying, “If you will deliver the sons of Ammon into my hands, ³¹whoever will be the first to depart from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, the same will I offer as a holocaust to the Lord.”

¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides, who say: ‘Whoever will have sworn by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ ¹⁷You are foolish and blind! For which is greater: the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸And you say: ‘Whoever will have sworn by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gift that is on the altar is obligated.’ ¹⁹How blind you are! For which is greater: the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears by it, and by all that is on it. ²¹And whoever will have sworn by the temple, swears by it, and by him who dwells in it.

¹²You shall not commit perjury in my name, nor shall you pollute the name of your God. I am the Lord.

⁴And it is much better not to make a vow, than, after a vow, not to fulfill what was promised. ⁵You should not use your mouth so as to cause your flesh to sin. And you should not say, in the sight of an Angel, “There is no Providence.” For God, being angry at your words, may scatter all the works of your hands. ⁶Where there are many dreams, there are many vanities and innumerable words. Yet truly, you must fear God.

²He who walks without blemish and who works justice. ³He who speaks the truth in his heart, who has not acted deceitfully with his tongue, and has not done evil to his neighbor, and has not taken up a reproach against his neighbors. ⁴In his sight, the malicious one has been reduced to nothing, but he glorifies those who fear the Lord. He who swears to his neighbor and does not deceive. ⁵He who has not given his money in usury, nor accepted bribes against the innocent. He who does these things will be undisturbed for eternity.

¹²And when daylight arrived, some of the Jews gathered together and bound themselves with an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.