For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Ver. 16. Swear by the greater] So do not they that swear by sundry creatures and qualities, God can hardly spare such, Jeremiah 5:7. That passage, "As thy soul liveth," is not an oath, but an asseveration, or obtestation only, conjoined with the oath.
An end of all strife] The end of an oath is to help the truth in necessity, and to clear men's innocency, Exodus 22:11 .