swear / vow

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The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “swear (an oath)” or “vow” in English is otherwise translated as:

  • “God sees me, I tell the truth to you” (Tzeltal)
  • “loading yourself down” (Huichol)
  • “speak-stay” (implying permanence of the utterance) (Sayula Popoluca)
  • “say what could not be taken away” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “because of the tight (i.e. ‘binding’) word said to a face” (Guerrero Amuzgo)
  • “strong promise” (North Alaskan Inupiatun) (source for all above: Bratcher / Nida)
  • “eat an oath” (Nyamwezi) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “drink an oath” (Jju) (source: McKinney 2018, p. 31).
  • “cut taboos” (Mairasi (source: Enggavoter 2004)

In Bauzi “swear” can be translated in various ways. In Hebrews 6:13, for instance, it is translated with “bones break apart and decisively speak.” (“No bones are literally broken but by saying ‘break bones’ it is like people swear by someone else in this case it is in relation to a rotting corpse’ bones falling apart. If you ‘break bones’ so to speak when you make an utterance, it is a true utterance.”) In other passages, such as in Matthew 26:72, it’s translated with an expression that implies taking ashes (“if a person wants everyone to know that he is telling the truth about a matter, he reaches down into the fireplace, scoops up some ashes and throws them while saying ‘I was not the one who did that.'”). So in Matthew 26:72 the Bauzi text is: “. . . Peter took ashes and defended himself saying, ‘I don’t know that Nazareth person.'” (Source: David Briley)

See also swear (promise) and Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’, or ‘No, No’.

David cuts Saul's robe (image)

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self-referencing pronoun for king or queen

In Malay, the pronoun beta for the royal “I” (or “my” or “me”) that is used by royals when speaking to people of lower rank, subordinates or commoners to refer to themselves in these verses. This reflects the “language of the court because the monarchy and sultanate in Malaysia are still alive and well. All oral and printed literature (including newspapers and magazines) preserve and glorify the language of the court. Considering that the language of the court is part of the Malaysian language, court language is used sparingly where appropriate, specifically with texts relating to palace life.” (Source: Daud Soesilo in The Bible Translator 2025, p. 263ff.)

complete verse (1 Samuel 24:21)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Samuel 24:21:

  • Kupsabiny: “But, swear in the name of God that the day you will be king, you will not kill my family and my descendants.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So swear an oath in the name of the LORD, saying that [you] will not kill my family and [that] wipe out my name from my father’s house.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Now, [you (sing.)] swear to me in the name of the LORD that you (sing.) will- not -kill my descendants, so-that the name of my family will- not -disappear.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Now while Yahweh is listening, solemnly promise to me that you will not kill my family and get rid of all my descendants.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on 1 Samuel 24:21

Saul asks of David in this verse that which his son Jonathan had asked earlier (see 20.14-16).

Swear … by the LORD: see the comments on 20.42.

Cut off my descendants after me: it was not unusual for a new ruler to kill all of the descendants of the previous king (see Judges 9.5; 1 Kgs 15.29; 16.11; 2 Kgs 10.1-17; 11.1). The Hebrew verb “cut off” is frequently used in the sense of “to kill” or “to eliminate.” This is probably the intended meaning here. In some cases the negative statement (not cut off) may be worded positively by using a verb like “save” or “allow to live.”

The exact sense of the words after me is not clear. Many understand this to mean the descendants who come after Saul chronologically. But since all descendants come “after” an ancestor, many translations omit these words as being redundant and say simply “my descendants” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and New American Bible). More likely, however, these words mean “after my death” (so La Bible du Semeur). Compare also New Jerusalem Bible (“that you will not suppress my descendants once I am gone”) and Bible en français courant (“So swear to me in the name of the Lord that after my death…”).

Saul’s two wishes, (1) that his descendants not be killed and (2) that his name not be destroyed, are basically synonymous. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente provides a model in which the two wishes are expressed as one: “Therefore swear to me in the name of the LORD, that you will not cause my family to disappear, killing my descendants.”

Not destroy my name: may be translated positively as “allow my name to continue” or something similar. On the significance of the name, see the comments at 18.30.

My father’s house: that is, “my father’s family.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on the First and Second Books of Samuel, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2001. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .