Genesis 21:30-31

21:30 He replied, “You must take these seven ewe lambs from my hand as legal proof ¹  that I dug this well.” ²  21:31 That is why he named that place ³  Beer Sheba, ⁴  because the two of them swore ⁵  an oath there.

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ⁶  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ⁷ 

Exodus 22:11

22:11 then there will be an oath to the Lord ⁸  between the two of them, that he has not laid his hand on his neighbor’s goods, and its owner will accept this, and he will not have to pay.

Joshua 9:15-20

9:15 Joshua made a peace treaty with them and agreed to let them live. The leaders of the community ⁹  sealed it with an oath. ¹⁰ 

9:16 Three days after they made the treaty with them, the Israelites found out they were from the local area and lived nearby. ¹¹  9:17 So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities – Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath Jearim. 9:18 The Israelites did not attack them because the leaders of the community had sworn an oath to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹²  The whole community criticized ¹³  the leaders, 9:19 but all the leaders told the whole community, “We swore an oath to them in the name of ¹⁴  the Lord God of Israel. So now we can’t hurt ¹⁵  them! 9:20 We must let them live so we can escape the curse attached to the oath we swore to them.” ¹⁶ 

Joshua 9:2

9:2 they formed an alliance to fight against Joshua and Israel. ¹⁷ 

Joshua 21:2

21:2 in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and said, “The Lord told Moses to assign us cities in which to live along with the grazing areas for our cattle.”

Ezekiel 17:16-20

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ¹⁸  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ¹⁹  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ²⁰  – he gave his promise ²¹  and did all these things – he will not escape!

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ²²  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.

[21:30]  ¹ tn Heb “that it be for me for a witness.”

[21:30]  ² sn This well. Since the king wanted a treaty to share in Abraham’s good fortune, Abraham used the treaty to secure ownership of and protection for the well he dug. It would be useless to make a treaty to live in this territory if he had no rights to the water. Abraham consented to the treaty, but added his rider to it.

[21:31]  ³ tn Heb “that is why he called that place.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive, “that is why that place was called.”

[21:31]  ⁴ sn The name Beer Sheba (בְּאֵר שָׁבַע, bÿ’er shava’) means “well of the oath” or “well of the seven.” Both the verb “to swear” and the number “seven” have been used throughout the account. Now they are drawn in as part of the explanation of the significance of the name.

[21:31]  ⁵ sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.

[31:53]  ⁶ tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.

[31:53]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[22:11]  ⁸ tn The construct relationship שְׁבֻעַת יְהוָה (shÿvu’at yÿhvah, “the oath of Yahweh”) would require a genitive of indirect object, “an oath [to] Yahweh.” U. Cassuto suggests that it means “an oath by Yahweh” (Exodus, 287). The person to whom the animal was entrusted would take a solemn oath to Yahweh that he did not appropriate the animal for himself, and then his word would be accepted.

[9:15]  ⁹ tn Or “assembly.”

[9:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Joshua made peace with them and made a treaty with them to let them live, and the leaders of the community swore an oath to them.”

[9:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “At the end of three days, after they made the treaty with them, they heard that they were neighbors to them and in their midst they were living.”

[9:18]  ¹² tn Heb “by the Lord God of Israel.”

[9:18]  ¹³ tn Or “grumbled against.”

[9:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to them by….”

[9:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “touch.”

[9:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “This is what we will do to them, keeping them alive so there will not be upon us anger concerning the oath which we swore to them.”

[9:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they gathered together to fight against Joshua and Israel [with] one mouth.”

[17:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[17:18]  ²⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.

[17:18]  ²¹ sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).

[17:19]  ²² tn Heb “place it on his head.”