Matthew 5:34-36

5:34 But I say to you, do not take oaths at all – not by heaven, because it is the throne of God, 5:35 not by earth, because it is his footstool, and not by Jerusalem, ¹  because it is the city of the great King. 5:36 Do not take an oath by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.

Exodus 20:7

20:7 “You shall not take ²  the name of the Lord your God in vain, ³  for the Lord will not hold guiltless ⁴  anyone who takes his name in vain.

Isaiah 48:1

The Lord Appeals to the Exiles

48:1 Listen to this, O family of Jacob, ⁵ 

you who are called by the name ‘Israel,’

and are descended from Judah, ⁶ 

who take oaths in the name of the Lord,

and invoke ⁷  the God of Israel –

but not in an honest and just manner. ⁸ 

Zechariah 5:3-4

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ⁹  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ¹⁰  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 5:4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

Zechariah 8:17

8:17 Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath – these are all things that I hate,’ says the Lord.”

Malachi 3:5

3:5 “I ¹¹  will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, ¹²  and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, ¹³  who refuse to help ¹⁴  the immigrant ¹⁵  and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Acts 5:3-4

5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled ¹⁶  your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back for yourself part of the proceeds from the sale of ¹⁷  the land? 5:4 Before it was sold, ¹⁸  did it not ¹⁹  belong to you? And when it was sold, was the money ²⁰  not at your disposal? How have you thought up this deed in your heart? ²¹  You have not lied to people ²²  but to God!”

[5:35]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[20:7]  ² tn Or “use” (NCV, TEV); NIV, CEV, NLT “misuse”; NRSV “make wrongful use of.”

[20:7]  ³ tn שָׁוְא (shav’, “vain”) describes “unreality.” The command prohibits use of the name for any idle, frivolous, or insincere purpose (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 196). This would include perjury, pagan incantations, or idle talk. The name is to be treated with reverence and respect because it is the name of the holy God.

[20:7]  ⁴ tn Or “leave unpunished.”

[48:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “house of Jacob”; TEV, CEV “people of Israel.”

[48:1]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally “and from the waters of Judah came out.” מִמֵּי (mimme) could be a corruption of מִמְּעֵי (mimmÿ’e, “from the inner parts of”; cf. NASB, NIV, NLT, NRSV) as suggested in the above translation. Some translations (ESV, NKJV) retain the MT reading because the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a, which corrects a similar form to “from inner parts of” in 39:7, does not do it here.

[48:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “cause to remember”; KJV, ASV “make mention of.”

[48:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “not in truth and not in righteousness.”

[5:3]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

[5:3]  ¹⁰ sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.

[3:5]  ¹¹ tn The first person pronoun (a reference to the Lord) indicates that the Lord himself now speaks (see also v. 1). The prophet speaks in vv. 2-4 (see also 2:17).

[3:5]  ¹² tn Heb “those who swear [oaths] falsely.” Cf. NIV “perjurers”; TEV “those who give false testimony”; NLT “liars.”

[3:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and against the oppressors of the worker for a wage, [the] widow and orphan.”

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who turn aside.”

[3:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “resident foreigner”; NIV “aliens”; NRSV “the alien.”

[5:3]  ¹⁶ sn This is a good example of the Greek verb fill (πληρόω, plhrow) meaning “to exercise control over someone’s thought and action” (cf. Eph 5:18).

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn The words “from the sale of” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the meaning, since the phrase “proceeds from the land” could possibly be understood as crops rather than money from the sale.

[5:4]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Remaining to you.”

[5:4]  ¹⁹ tn The negative interrogative particle οὐχί (ouci) expects a positive reply to this question and the following one (“And when it was sold, was it not at your disposal?”).

[5:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “it”; the referent of the pronoun (the money generated from the sale of the land) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ²¹ tn Grk “How is it that you have [or Why have you] placed this deed in your heart?” Both of these literal translations differ from the normal way of expressing the thought in English.

[5:4]  ²² tn Grk “to men.” If Peter’s remark refers only to the apostles, the translation “to men” would be appropriate. But if (as is likely) the action was taken to impress the entire congregation (who would presumably have witnessed the donation or been aware of it) then the more general “to people” is more appropriate, since the audience would have included both men and women.