Genesis 21:31-32

21:31 That is why he named that place ¹  Beer Sheba, ²  because the two of them swore ³  an oath there.

21:32 So they made a treaty ⁴  at Beer Sheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, returned ⁵  to the land of the Philistines. ⁶ 

Genesis 24:3

24:3 so that I may make you solemnly promise ⁷  by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire ⁸  a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.

Genesis 24:41

24:41 You will be free from your oath ⁹  if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.’

Genesis 31:49-53

31:49 It was also called Mizpah ¹⁰  because he said, “May the Lord watch ¹¹  between us ¹²  when we are out of sight of one another. ¹³  31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, realize ¹⁴  that God is witness to your actions.” ¹⁵ 

31:51 “Here is this pile of stones and this pillar I have set up between me and you,” Laban said to Jacob. ¹⁶  31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. ¹⁷  31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ¹⁸  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ¹⁹ 

Hebrews 6:16

6:16 For people ²⁰  swear by something greater than themselves, ²¹  and the oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute. ²² 

[21:31]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ sn The verb forms a wordplay with the name Beer Sheba.

[21:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[21:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “arose and returned.”

[21:32]  ⁶ sn The Philistines mentioned here may not be ethnically related to those who lived in Palestine in the time of the judges and the united monarchy. See D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 238.

[24:3]  ⁷ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.

[24:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “because you must not take.”

[24:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “my oath” (twice in this verse). From the Hebrew perspective the oath belonged to the person to whom it was sworn (Abraham), although in contemporary English an oath is typically viewed as belonging to the person who swears it (the servant).

[31:49]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Mizpah.”

[31:49]  ¹¹ sn The name Mizpah (מִצְפָּה, mitspah), which means “watchpost,” sounds like the verb translated “may he watch” (יִצֶף, yitsef). Neither Laban nor Jacob felt safe with each other, and so they agreed to go their separate ways, trusting the Lord to keep watch at the border. Jacob did not need this treaty, but Laban, perhaps because he had lost his household gods, felt he did.

[31:49]  ¹² tn Heb “between me and you.”

[31:49]  ¹³ tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”

[31:50]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “see.”

[31:50]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “between me and you.”

[31:51]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and Laban said to Jacob, ‘Behold this heap and behold the pillar which I have set between men and you.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[31:52]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness, if I go past this pile to you and if you go past this pile and this pillar to me for harm.”

[31:53]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[6:16]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Grk “by something greater”; the rest of the comparison (“than themselves”) is implied.

[6:16]  ²² tn Grk “the oath for confirmation is an end of all dispute.”