Hebrews 6:13-18

American Standard Version

¹³For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he sware by himself, ¹⁴saying, ^[a]Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. ¹⁵And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. ¹⁶For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, ^[b]interposed with an oath; ¹⁸that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us:

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Footnotes

Hebrews 6:14 Gen. 22:16f.
Hebrews 6:17 Greek mediated.

Hebrews 6:13-18

King James Version

¹³For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

¹⁴Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

¹⁵And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

¹⁶For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

¹⁷Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

¹⁸That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

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Hebrews 6:13-18

New International Version

The Certainty of God’s Promise

¹³When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself,^(A) ¹⁴saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”^[a]^(B) ¹⁵And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.^(C)

¹⁶People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.^(D) ¹⁷Because God wanted to make the unchanging^(E) nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,^(F) he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie,^(G) we who have fled to take hold of the hope^(H) set before us may be greatly encouraged.