Genesis 14:22-23

14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ¹  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ²  14:23 that I will take nothing ³  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ⁴  who made Abram rich.’

Exodus 6:8

6:8 I will bring you to the land I swore to give ⁵  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob – and I will give it to you ⁶  as a possession. I am the Lord!’”

Deuteronomy 32:40-42

32:40 For I raise up my hand to heaven,

and say, ‘As surely as I live forever,

32:41 I will sharpen my lightning-like sword,

and my hand will grasp hold of the weapon of judgment; ⁷ 

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me! ⁸ 

32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and my sword will devour flesh –

the blood of the slaughtered and captured,

the chief ⁹  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

Ezekiel 20:15

20:15 I also swore ¹⁰  to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

Revelation 10:5-6

10:5 Then ¹¹  the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven 10:6 and swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, and the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, “There will be no more delay! ¹² 

¹ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

² tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

³ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

⁵ tn Heb “which I raised my hand to give it.” The relative clause specifies which land is their goal. The bold anthropomorphism mentions part of an oath-taking ceremony to refer to the whole event and reminds the reader that God swore that he would give the land to them. The reference to taking an oath would have made the promise of God sure in the mind of the Israelite.

⁶ sn Here is the twofold aspect again clearly depicted: God swore the promise to the patriarchs, but he is about to give what he promised to this generation. This generation will know more about him as a result.

⁷ tn Heb “judgment.” This is a metonymy, a figure of speech in which the effect (judgment) is employed as an instrument (sword, spear, or the like), the means, by which it is brought about.

⁸ tn The Hebrew term שָׂנֵא (sane’, “hate”) in this covenant context speaks of those who reject Yahweh’s covenant overtures, that is, who disobey its stipulations (see note on the word “rejecting” in Deut 5:9; also see Deut 7:10; 2 Chr 19:2; Ps 81:15; 139:20-21).

⁹ tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).

¹⁰ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

¹² tn On this phrase see BDAG 1092 s.v. χρόνος.