¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(A)an oath is final for confirmation.

^11 (A)an oath by the Lord shall be between them both to see whether or not he has put his hand to his neighbor's property. The owner shall accept the oath, and he shall not make restitution.

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself,

²⁰ So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹ And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by ^(A)him who dwells in it. ²² And whoever swears by ^(B)heaven swears by ^(C)the throne of God and by ^(D)him who sits upon it.

^16 (A)“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely ^(B)in the place where the king dwells ^(C)who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. ^17 (D)Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, ^(E)when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. ¹⁸ He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head. ^20 (F)I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon ^(G)and enter into judgment with him there ^(H)for the treachery he has committed against me.

¹⁵ And Joshua ^(A)made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

¹⁶ At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors ^(B)and that they lived among them. ¹⁷ And the people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. ^(C)Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸ But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel. Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. ¹⁹ But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. ²⁰ This we will do to them: let them live, lest ^(D)wrath be upon us, ^(E)because of the oath that we swore to them.”

⁵³ The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the ^(A)Fear of his father Isaac,

³⁰ He said, “These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this^[a] may be a witness for me that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore ^(A)that place was called Beersheba,^[b] because there both of them swore an oath.

²³ Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but ^(A)as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned.”