Hebrews 6:16
New International Version
People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.

New Living Translation
Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding.

English Standard Version
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.

Berean Standard Bible
Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.

Berean Literal Bible
For men swear by one greater, and an end of all their disputes, for confirmation, is the oath,

King James Bible
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

New King James Version
For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

New American Standard Bible
For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

NASB 1995
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

NASB 1977
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

Legacy Standard Bible
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.

Amplified Bible
Indeed men swear [an oath] by one greater than themselves, and with them [in all disputes] the oath serves as confirmation [of what has been said] and is an end of the dispute.

Christian Standard Bible
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For men swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute.

American Standard Version
For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
For among men, they swear by that which is greater than they, and concerning every dispute which they have had among them, a sure end of it has come by an oath.

Contemporary English Version
When anyone wants to settle an argument, they make a vow by using the name of someone or something greater than themselves.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For men swear by one greater than themselves: and an oath for confirmation is the end of all their controversy.

English Revised Version
For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When people take oaths, they base their oaths on someone greater than themselves. Their oaths guarantee what they say and end all arguments.

Good News Translation
When we make a vow, we use the name of someone greater than ourselves, and the vow settles all arguments.

International Standard Version
For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all argument.

Literal Standard Version
for men swear by the greater, and the oath [is] for confirmation of the end of all their controversy,

Majority Standard Bible
Men indeed swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.

New American Bible
Human beings swear by someone greater than themselves; for them an oath serves as a guarantee and puts an end to all argument.

NET Bible
For people swear by something greater than themselves, and the oath serves as a confirmation to end all dispute.

New Revised Standard Version
Human beings, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute.

New Heart English Bible
For people swear oaths by something greater, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.

Webster's Bible Translation
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all contradiction.

Weymouth New Testament
For men swear by what is greater than themselves; and with them an oath in confirmation of a statement always puts an end to a dispute.

World English Bible
For men indeed swear by a greater one, and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation.

Young's Literal Translation
for men indeed do swear by the greater, and an end of all controversy to them for confirmation is the oath,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
God's Unchangeable Promise
15And so Abraham, after waiting patiently, obtained the promise. 16 Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument. 17So when God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath.…

Cross References
Exodus 22:11
an oath before the LORD shall be made between the parties to determine whether or not the man has taken his neighbor's property. The owner must accept the oath and require no restitution.

Galatians 3:15
Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.


Treasury of Scripture

For men truly swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.

swear.

Hebrews 6:13
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,

Genesis 14:22
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

Genesis 21:23
Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

an oath.

Genesis 21:30,31
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well…

Genesis 31:53
The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac.

Exodus 22:11
Then shall an oath of the LORD be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good.

Jump to Previous
Always Confirmation Confirms Contradiction Controversy Dispute Disputes End Ended Final Greater Indeed Making Matters Oath Oaths Puts Someone Statement Strife Sure Swear Theirs Themselves Times Verily
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Always Confirmation Confirms Contradiction Controversy Dispute Disputes End Ended Final Greater Indeed Making Matters Oath Oaths Puts Someone Statement Strife Sure Swear Theirs Themselves Times Verily
Hebrews 6
1. He exhorts not to fall back from the faith;
11. but to be steadfast,
12. diligent, and patient to wait upon God;
13. because God is most sure in his promise.














(16) And an oath for confirmation.--Rather, and of every dispute in their case the oath is an end (is final) to settle the matter.

Verses 16-20. - For men swear by the greater: and of every dispute of theirs (literally, to them), the oath is final (literally, an end) for confirmation (εἰς βεβαίωσιν being connected with πέρας, not, as in the A.V., with ὅρκος). Here begins the explanation of the meaning and purpose of the Divine oath, already cursorily touched on in ver. 13. God thus, for full assurance, condescends to the form of confirmation most binding among men when they promise to each other. They appeal to one greater than themselves to intervene between them. He, having no one greater than himself to appeal to, appeals (so to speak) to his own immutability, and thus may be said to intervene with an oath (ἐμεσίτευσεν ὄρκῳ ever. 17), the verb being neuter, with the sense of "mediate" or "intervene," not, as in A.V., "confirmed it". The reason is not that the Divine promise is not in itself enough, but that God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, is pleased to grant them this additional confirmation; that by two immutable things (first the promise, in itself sufficient; and secondly the oath, for more abundant assurance), in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation (παράκληησιν, bearing elsewhere this sense, and also that of exhortation, as in Hebrews 12:5; Hebrews 13:22; which latter sense is understood here by most commentators as uniting best the drift of the passage with the general notion of encouragement) who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. The course of thought has now passed again from Abraham to Christians, the transition having been prepared for by the general expression, τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας in ver. 17. Indeed, the oath to him was an assurance to us also, we being the final inheritors of the promised blessing. Then finally, in the two concluding verses, the subject to be treated in Hebrews 7. is again beautifully led up to by a natural sequence of thought: Which (so. hope) we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a Forerunner Jesus entered for us, become a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Our hope (ἐλπίς), regarded in ver. 18 objectively, assumes here a subjective sense: it is our anchor east upwards beyond the heavens through which our Forerunner has passed (cf. Hebrews 4:14, διελελυθότα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς), and, in virtue of the promise and the oath, fixed there secure and firm. "That which is within the veil" (καταπετάσματος, the word invariably denoting the veil in the temple, is the heavenly holy of holies, of which the earthly was symbolical, as is fully set forth in Hebrews 8. This first mention of the veil is an instance of the manner in which, throughout this Epistle, ideas to be afterwards expanded are often intimated by way of preparation beforehand. Instructive in this chapter is the view presented of Divine purpose in relation to human will. The Divine purpose may have been evinced by supplies of grace so abundant as to remove all doubt of the possibility of success; yet through the human will there may be failure: the very Divine oath may have ensured fulfillment of the promise; yet, as to Abraham, so to individual Christians, faith and patience are the conditions of fulfillment. It is evident that the Divine purpose and the Divine promise are all along referred to, not to dishearten any for fear that they may not be included in them, not to encourage remissness in any on the ground of certainty of attainment, not so as to suggest any idea of arbitrary selection irrespective of desert, but simply to incite to perseverance on the ground of assurance of success, if the human conditions are fulfilled. And this is the practical application of the doctrine of predestination found also elsewhere in St. Paul's Epistles (cf. Romans 8:28-39). Predestination and free-will may be to human reason theoretically irreconcilable, though reason, as well as theology, may compel us to acknowledge both. The problem may properly be left unsolved, as among the many deep things of God. But it is of importance to observe how the doctrine of-predestination is practically applied in Scripture as bearing upon human conduct.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Men
Ἄνθρωποι (Anthrōpoi)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 444: A man, one of the human race. From aner and ops; man-faced, i.e. A human being.

swear
ὀμνύουσιν (omnyousin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 3660: A prolonged form of a primary, but obsolete omo, for which another prolonged form omoo is used in certain tenses; to swear, i.e. Take oath.

by
κατὰ (kata)
Preposition
Strong's 2596: A primary particle; down, in varied relations (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined).

[someone]
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

greater [than themselves],
μείζονος (meizonos)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular - Comparative
Strong's 3173: Large, great, in the widest sense.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

[their]
(ho)
Article - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

oath
ὅρκος (horkos)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3727: An oath. From herkos; a limit, i.e. restraint.

serves as
εἰς (eis)
Preposition
Strong's 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases.

a confirmation
βεβαίωσιν (bebaiōsin)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 951: Confirmation, ratification, establishment. From bebaioo; stabiliment.

to end
πέρας (peras)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4009: (a) a boundary, limit, extremity, (b) an end, conclusion. From the same as peran; an extremity.

all
πάσης (pasēs)
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

argument.
ἀντιλογίας (antilogias)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 485: Contradiction, contention, rebellion. From a derivative of antilego; dispute, disobedience.


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NT Letters: Hebrews 6:16 For men indeed swear by a greater (Heb. He. Hb)
Hebrews 6:15
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