therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and
dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to
be abhorred."[28]

To SWEAR is to give or use an oath. "The men said unto her, we will be
blameless of this thine oath which thou hast made us swear."[29] "I will
perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham."[30] And to make, or to
enter into an oath, being the same as to give it, each of these is also
to swear.

It is by the Lord, or by the name of the Lord, and by him alone that all
ought to swear. One of the verbs ([Hebrew: aloh]) in the Hebrew which
denote _to swear_, would seem to be derived from a word ([Hebrew: El])
which signifies God, and accordingly refers to the making of an
affirmation by using the name of God.[31] And the corresponding noun
([Hebrew: alah]) for _oath_, in like manner bears literally a meaning
expressive of a means of calling on that holy name. Both occur in the
sacred original of the passage. "If any man trespass against his
neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the
oath come before thine altar in this house: then hear thou in
heaven."[32] And where a verb of a different origin is employed, the
same is manifest. Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, "I
will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the
earth."[33] The Lord himself said, "Ye shall not swear by my name
falsely."[34] And explicit is the injunction, "Thou shalt fear the Lord
thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name."[35] Nor is an oath
to be made by the name of any other. "Men verily swear by the greater;"
and therefore lawfully by God alone. The names of the gods of the
heathen were not even to be mentioned; and hence were not to be used in
making an oath. Nay, the Israelites were explicitly forbidden to swear
by them. Nor by any creature, and consequently not by the name of such
ought any one to swear. "Swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is
God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by
Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou
swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or
black."[36]

The expression, _the Lord liveth_, is a form of the oath. "Though they
say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely"[37] "Thou shalt swear,
The Lord liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness."[38]

An oath is sworn with the lifting up of the right hand. In