Genesis 22:16

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,

Numbers 14:28-30

14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, ³  says ⁴  the Lord, I will surely do to you just what you have spoken in my hearing. ⁵  14:29 Your dead bodies ⁶  will fall in this wilderness – all those of you who were numbered, according to your full number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me. 14:30 You will by no means enter into the land where ⁷  I swore ⁸  to settle ⁹  you. The only exceptions are Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

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; ¹⁰ 

I will execute vengeance on my foes,

and repay those who hate me! ¹¹ 

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 ¹²  of the enemy’s leaders!’”

Psalms 95:11

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” ¹³ 

Amos 6:8

6:8 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his very own life. ¹⁴ 

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

“I despise Jacob’s arrogance;

I hate their ¹⁵  fortresses.

I will hand over to their enemies ¹⁶  the city of Samaria ¹⁷  and everything in it.”

Amos 8:7-8

8:7 The Lord confirms this oath ¹⁸  by the arrogance of Jacob: ¹⁹ 

“I swear ²⁰  I will never forget all you have done! ²¹ 

8:8 Because of this the earth ²²  will quake, ²³ 

and all who live in it will mourn.

The whole earth ²⁴  will rise like the River Nile, ²⁵ 

it will surge upward ²⁶  and then grow calm, ²⁷  like the Nile in Egypt. ²⁸ 

Hebrews 3:18

3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient?

Hebrews 6:13

6:13 Now when God made his promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself,

Hebrews 6:17

6:17 In the same way ²⁹  God wanted to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable, ³⁰  and so he intervened with an oath,

[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.

[14:28]  ³ sn Here again is the oath that God swore in his wrath, an oath he swore by himself, that they would not enter the land. “As the Lord lives,” or “by the life of the Lord,” are ways to render it.

[14:28]  ⁴ tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is an “oracle.” It is followed by the subjective genitive: “the oracle of the Lord” is equal to saying “the Lord says.”

[14:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “in my ears.”

[14:29]  ⁶ tn Or “your corpses” (also in vv. 32, 33).

[14:30]  ⁷ tn The relative pronoun “which” is joined with the resumptive pronoun “in it” to form a smoother reading “where.”

[14:30]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text uses the anthropomorphic expression “I raised my hand” in taking an oath.

[14:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “to cause you to dwell; to cause you to settle.”

[32:41]  ¹⁰ 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.

[32:41]  ¹¹ 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).

[32:42]  ¹² tn Or “head” (the same Hebrew word can mean “head” in the sense of “leader, chieftain” or “head” in the sense of body part).

[95:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).

[6:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “swears by his life”; or “swears by himself.”

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his,” referring to Jacob, which stands here for the nation of Israel.

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[6:8]  ¹⁷ 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.

[8:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “swears.”

[8:7]  ¹⁹ sn In an oath one appeals to something permanent to emphasize one’s commitment to the promise. Here the Lord sarcastically swears by the arrogance of Jacob, which he earlier had condemned (6:8), something just as enduring as the Lord’s own life (see 6:8) or unchanging character (see 4:2). Other suggestions include that the Lord is swearing by the land, his most valuable possession (cf. Isa 4:2; Ps 47:4 [47:5 HT]); that this is a divine epithet analogous to “the Glory of Israel” (1 Sam 15:29); or that an ellipsis should be understood here, in which case the meaning is the same as that of 6:8 (“The Lord has sworn [by himself] against the arrogance of Jacob”).

[8:7]  ²⁰ tn The words “I swear” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation because a self-imprecation is assumed in oaths of this type.

[8:7]  ²¹ tn Or “I will never forget all your deeds.”

[8:8]  ²² tn Or “land” (also later in this verse).

[8:8]  ²³ tn It is not clear whether the speaker in this verse is the Lord or the prophet.

[8:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all of it.”

[8:8]  ²⁵ tc The MT reads “like the light” (כָאֹר, kha’or; note this term also appears in v. 9), which is commonly understood to be an error for “like the Nile” (כִּיאוֹר, ki’or). See the parallel line and Amos 9:5. The word “River” is supplied in the translation for clarity. If this emendation is correct, in the Hebrew of Amos “Nile” is actually spelled three slightly different ways.

[8:8]  ²⁶ tn Or “churn.”

[8:8]  ²⁷ tn Or “sink back down.” The translation assumes the verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’), following the Qere.

[8:8]  ²⁸ tn The entire verse is phrased in a series of rhetorical questions which anticipate the answer, “Of course!” (For example, the first line reads, “Because of this will the earth not quake?”). The rhetorical questions entrap the listener in the logic of the judgment of God (cf. 3:3-6; 9:7). The rhetorical questions have been converted to affirmative statements in the translation for clarity.

[6:17]  ²⁹ tn Grk “in which.”

[6:17]  ³⁰ tn Or “immutable” (here and in v. 18); Grk “the unchangeableness of his purpose.”