Mateo 5:36

Filipino Cebuano Bible

36 Ug ayaw pagpanumpa tungod sa imong ulo, kay ikaw dili arang makapaputi ni makapaitom sa bisan usa na lang ka lugas nga buhok niini.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shalt: Matthew 23:16-21

because: Matthew 6:27, Luke 12:25

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,.... This also was a common form of swearing among the Jews: take a few instances.

"If anyone is bound to his friend by an oath, and says to him, vow unto me בחיי ראשך, "by the life of thy head"; R. Meir says u, he may retract it; but the wise men say, he cannot.''

Again w, a certain Rabbi said to Elijah,

"I heard "Bath Kol" (or the voice from heaven) mourning like a dove, and saying, woe to my children; for, because of their sins, I have destroyed my house, and have burnt my temple, and have carried them captive among the nations: and he (Elijah) said unto him חייך וחיי ראשך, "by thy life, and by the life of thy head", not this time only it says so, but it says so three times every day.''

Once more x, says R. Simeon ben Antipatras, to R. Joshua,

"I have heard from the mouth of the wise men, that he that vows in the law, and transgresses, is to be beaten with forty stripes: he replies, blessed art thou of God, that thou hast so done, חייך וחיי ראשך, "by thy life, and by the life of thy head", he that is used to do so is to be beaten.''

This form of swearing is condemned, for this reason,

because thou canst not make one hair white or black: which shows, that a man's head, nor, indeed, one hair of his head, is in his own power, and therefore he ought not to swear by it; as he ought not to swear by heaven, or earth, or Jerusalem, because these were in the possession of God. Some copies read, "canst not make one white hair black".

u Misn. Sanhedrim, c. 3. sect 2. w T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 3. 1. x Derech. Eretz, c. 6. fol. 18. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Neither shalt thou swear by thy head - This was a common oath. The Gentiles also used this oath. To swear by the head was the same as to swear by the life; or to say, I will forfeit my life if what I say is not true. God is the Author of the life, and to swear by that, therefore, is the same as to swear by him.

Because thou canst not make one hair white or black - You have no control or right over your own life. You cannot even change one single hair. God has all that control; and it is therefore improper and profane to pledge what is God’s gift and God’s property; and it is the same as swearing by God himself.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head — For these plain reasons:

1st. God commands thee not to do it.

2dly. Thou hast nothing which is thy own, and thou shouldst not pledge another's property.

3dly. It never did, and never can, answer any good purpose. And

4thly. Being a breach of the law of God, it is the way to everlasting misery.