{"id": "card_n_60dc80d6f932", "kind": "note", "title": "Easton: Oath", "body": "A solemn appeal to God, permitted on fitting occasions (Deut. 6:13; Jer. 4:2), in various forms (Gen. 16:5; 2 Sam. 12:5; Ruth 1:17; Hos. 4:15; Rom. 1:9), and taken in different ways (Gen. 14:22; 24:2; 2 Chr. 6:22). God is represented as taking an oath (Heb. 6:16-18), so also Christ (Matt. 26:64), and Paul (Rom. 9:1; Gal. 1:20; Phil. 1:8). The precept, “Swear not at all,” refers probably to ordinary conversation between man and man (Matt. 5:34, 37). But if the words are taken as referring to oaths, then their intention may have been to show “that the proper state of Christians is to require no oaths; that when evil is expelled from among them every yea and nay will be as decisive as an oath, every promise as binding as a vow.”", "source": {"label": "Matthew Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary (1897)", "url": "/encyclopedia.html?ref=Oath", "ref": "Oath", "authority_tier": "external_aligned"}, "shelf": "dictionary", "box": "easton_concept_m_p", "bands": ["easton", "bible_dictionary", "concept"], "connections": [{"to_card_id": "card_n_b3d286d98c09", "relationship": "cites", "via_connection_card_id": "card_c_68b8ffd802cd"}], "author": "engine", "created_at": "2026-05-19T13:11:11.383643+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-19T19:50:27.534108+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 2, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "fac7582ef3389533582da812924441416ab6190e7c4c0cbe3fef633a84198e77", "witnesses": [{"class": "manuscript_tradition", "label": "Original 1897 publication — Thomas Nelson, London", "ref": "Easton-1897"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Project Gutenberg — Easton's Bible Dictionary", "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45696", "ref": "PG-45696"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Internet Archive — multiple scans", "url": "https://archive.org/details/eastonsillustra00east", "ref": "IA-Easton"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "CCEL — Easton's Bible Dictionary", "url": "https://www.ccel.org/e/easton/ebd/", "ref": "CCEL-Easton"}, {"class": "republication", "label": "Blue Letter Bible — searchable Easton's", "url": "https://www.blueletterbible.org/study/easton/", "ref": "BLB-Easton"}], "witness_status": "passed", "witness_status_reason": "5 witnesses across 2 independence classes: ['manuscript_tradition', 'republication']", "surface": "secular"}