Genesis 22:15-18

22:15 The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven 22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ ¹  decrees the Lord, ²  ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed bless you, ³  and I will greatly multiply ⁴  your descendants ⁵  so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession ⁶  of the strongholds ⁷  of their enemies. 22:18 Because you have obeyed me, ⁸  all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ⁹  using the name of your descendants.’”

Jeremiah 22:5

22:5 But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear ¹⁰  that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!” ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 49:13

49:13 For I solemnly swear,” ¹²  says the Lord, “that Bozrah ¹³  will become a pile of ruins. It will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example to be used in curses. ¹⁴  All the towns around it will lie in ruins forever.”

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ¹⁵ 

The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking:

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ¹⁶  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ¹⁷  the city of Samaria ¹⁸  and everything in it.”

Hebrews 6:13-18

6:13 Now when God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, 6:14 saying, “Surely I will bless you greatly and multiply your descendants abundantly.” ¹⁹  6:15 And so by persevering, Abraham ²⁰  inherited the promise. 6:16 For people ²¹  swear by something greater than themselves, ²²  and the oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute. ²³  6:17 In the same way ²⁴  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ²⁵  and so he intervened with an oath, 6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him ²⁶  may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie.

[22:16]  ¹ tn Heb “By myself I swear.”

[22:16]  ² tn Heb “the oracle of the Lord.” The phrase refers to a formal oracle or decree from the Lord.

[22:17]  ³ tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.

[22:17]  ⁴ tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).

[22:17]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.

[22:17]  ⁶ tn Or “inherit.”

[22:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).

[22:18]  ⁸ tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.

[22:18]  ⁹ tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[22:5]  ¹⁰ sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16; 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by no higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name.

[22:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[49:13]  ¹² tn Heb “I swear by myself.” See 22:5 and the study note there.

[49:13]  ¹³ sn Bozrah appears to have been the chief city in Edom, its capital city (see its parallelism with Edom in Isa 34:6; 63:1; Jer 49:22). The reference to “its towns” (translated here “all the towns around it”) could then be a reference to all the towns in Edom. It was located about twenty-five miles southeast of the southern end of the Dead Sea apparently in the district of Teman (see the parallelism in Amos 1:12).

[49:13]  ¹⁴ tn See the study note on 24:9 for the rendering of this term.

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ¹⁷ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the city”; this probably refers to the city of Samaria (cf. 6:1), which in turn, by metonymy, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[6:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “in blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply you,” the Greek form of a Hebrew idiom showing intensity.

[6:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Abraham) has been specified for clarity.

[6:16]  ²¹ tn The plural Greek term ἄνθρωποι (anqrwpoi) is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, and is thus translated “people.”

[6:16]  ²² tn Grk “by something greater”; the rest of the comparison (“than themselves”) is implied.

[6:16]  ²³ tn Grk “the oath for confirmation is an end of all dispute.”

[6:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ²⁵ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”

[6:18]  ²⁶ tn Grk “have taken refuge”; the basis of that refuge is implied in the preceding verse.