An Oath Binds in Any Language and by Any Name of God

Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 471:1

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

How do we know the oath of testimony is valid in any language? It is written, "and a soul that sins and hears" (Leviticus 5:1) - in whatever language she hears. And the oath of deposit in any language? It is derived by the verbal analogy "sins... sins" from the oath of testimony. If one said "I adjure you" by the name spelled yod-heh, by aleph-dalet, by Shaddai, by Tzevaot, by the Gracious One, by the Merciful One, by the Long-Suffering One, by the Abundant in Kindness, by any of the divine titles - they are liable. As for cursing: "one who curses by any of them is liable," the words of Rabbi Meir; but the sages exempt him. They raised a contradiction: "the LORD make you a curse and an oath" (Numbers 5:21) - what does this teach? Has it not already said "and the priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of cursing"? Because it says "and she shall hear the voice of a curse" here, and "curse" is said there, just as here it is a sworn oath, so there; and just as here it is by the Name, so there it is by the Name. Abaye said: there is no difficulty. One view is Rabbi Chanina's, the other the sages'. For it was taught, Rabbi Chanina says: since the Torah said swear and do not swear, curse and do not curse, just as one swears by the Name, so one is forbidden to swear by the Name; just as one curses by the Name, so one is forbidden to curse by the Name. And the sages: if they had a verbal analogy, they would require the unique Name; and if they had no verbal analogy, how do we know that "curse" means a sworn oath? It comes from what was taught: "curse" means nothing other than a sworn oath, as it says "with the oath of cursing," and from where do we treat a curse without a sworn oath like one with it? Scripture says "and she shall hear the voice of a curse." And they are liable for a deliberate oath of testimony. From where? It was taught: in all the other cases "and it is hidden" is said, but here "and it is hidden" is not said, to make one liable for the deliberate act as for the inadvertent.

Themes

Oral TorahDivine NamesLaw

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