Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
Ver. 20. Whoso therefore shall swear] It was not lawful to swear by the altar, or by any creature whatsoever, Jeremiah 5:7; (much less by idols, Amos 8:14; "I myself," saith Latimer, "have used in mine earnest matters to say, Yea by St Mary, which indeed is naught"). But though these oaths be formally naught, yet they are finally binding, and being broken, they are plain perjury, because they are all reduced to God himself, none otherwise than if they had been taken expressly by the name of God. Hence it is that the oaths of Papists, Turks, heathens (though superstitious), are obligatory, ορκος, just as εοκος, An oath is a hedge, which a man may not break.