1 Raja-raja 17:1

Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory

17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), ¹  there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” ² 

1 Raja-raja 17:1

Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory

17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), ³  there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 14:39

14:39 For as surely as the Lord, the deliverer of Israel, lives, even if it turns out to be my own son Jonathan, he will certainly die!” But no one from the army said anything. ⁵ 

1 Samuel 14:45

14:45 But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground! For it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 20:3

20:3 Taking an oath, David again ⁷  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ⁸  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ⁹  ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!”

1 Samuel 20:21

20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ¹⁰  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.

1 Samuel 25:26

25:26 “Now, my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, it is the Lord who has kept you from shedding blood and taking matters into your own hands. Now may your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord be like Nabal.

1 Samuel 26:10

26:10 David went on to say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away.

1 Samuel 26:2

26:2 So Saul arose and

went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph.

1 Samuel 15:21

15:21 But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Yeremia 4:2

4:2 You must be truthful, honest and upright

when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ ¹¹ 

If you do, ¹²  the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are

and will make him the object of their boasting.” ¹³ 

Yeremia 5:2

5:2 These people make promises in the name of the Lord. ¹⁴ 

But the fact is, ¹⁵  what they swear to is really a lie.” ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “before whom I stand.”

² tn Heb “except at the command of my word.”

³ tn Heb “before whom I stand.”

⁴ tn Heb “except at the command of my word.”

⁵ tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”

⁶ tn Heb “and he did not die.”

⁷ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”

⁸ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.

⁹ tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.

¹⁰ tn Heb “from you and here.”

¹¹ tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness…”

¹² tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.

¹³ tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Though they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives.” The idea of “swear on oath” comes from the second line.

¹⁵ tc The translation follows many Hebrew mss and the Syriac version in reading “surely” (אָכֵן, ’akhen) instead of “therefore” (לָכֵן, lakhen) in the MT.

tn Heb “Surely.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “they swear falsely.”