⭐WEB · Matthew 5:33
What does Matthew 5:33 mean?
"“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’"
— Matthew 5:33 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’
but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;
nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
Explanation
Matthew 5:33 reads, "Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, 'You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows.'" In plain language, Jesus is reminding his listeners of a familiar teaching from the Law of Moses: don't swear an oath falsely, and if you make a vow to God, keep it. This was a well-known moral expectation rooted in passages like Leviticus 19:12, Numbers 30:2, and Deuteronomy 23:21-23, which required Israelites to follow through on vows made in God's name and forbade using his name to back up a lie.
The context here is the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus is teaching a large crowd, including his disciples, early in his public ministry. Matthew, writing primarily to a Jewish-Christian audience, presents Jesus as the authoritative interpreter of the Law, not someone abolishing it but revealing its deeper intent. This verse begins the fourth of six "You have heard... but I say to you" statements, where Jesus takes commonly understood Old Testament teachings and pushes his audience toward the heart behind them rather than mere technical compliance. The Pharisees and teachers of the law had developed elaborate systems around oaths, distinguishing which vows were truly binding based on what was sworn by (the temple, the altar, heaven, etc.), effectively creating loopholes for dishonesty.
Theologically, this verse sets up Jesus's larger point in the verses that follow: that truthful, honest speech should be the
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