content/10/04.md
---
pagetitle: Of lawful oaths and vows, part 3
date: February 19, 2020
prev_url: /westminster-daily/10/03/
prev_date: Oct 3
this_url: /westminster-daily/10/04/
short_date: "1004"
this_date: Oct 4
next_url: /westminster-daily/10/05/
next_date: Oct 5
---
#### Confession of Faith
##### Chapter 22: Of Lawful Oaths and Vows
Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth:[^fnref:wcf1] neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform.[^fnref:wcf2]
[^fnref:wcf1]: <div class="esv"><h5>Exodus 20:7</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p02020007.01-1">“You shall not take the name of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> your God in vain, for the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.</p> </div><h5>Jeremiah 4:2</h5> <div class="esv-text"><div class="block-indent"> <p class="line-group" id="p24004002.01-2">and if you swear, ‘As the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> lives,’<br /> <span class="indent"></span>in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,<br /> then nations shall bless themselves in him,<br /> <span class="indent"></span>and in him shall they glory.” (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div> </div>
[^fnref:wcf2]: <div class="esv"><h5>Genesis 24:2-3</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p01024002.01-1">And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, that I may make you swear by the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,</p> </div><h5>Genesis 24:5-6</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p01024005.01-2">The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there.</p> </div><h5>Genesis 24:8-9</h5> <div class="esv-text"><p id="p01024008.01-3">But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p> </div> </div>