swear / vow

Click here to view graphically

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’.

complete verse (Genesis 21:31)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 21:31:

  • Newari: “In this way the name of that place became Beersheba. For there they made an agreement.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Because of this swearing-to-each-other of them, that place was called Beersheba.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So Abimelech accepted the animals, and as a result they called that place Beersheba, which means ‘Friendship Agreement Well’, because there the two of them made that agreement.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 21:31

Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba: Revised Standard Version translates the Hebrew active “he called” as a passive was called. It was noted in verse 23 that the word translated “to swear an oath” sounds like the word translated “seven,” and so Beersheba can mean either “well of the oath” or “well of seven.” See Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation footnotes.

Because there both of them swore an oath: it is unlikely in translation that this play on the word “seven” and “swear an oath” can be matched in many languages. Therefore it will be sufficient to supply a footnote, as in Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .