Leviticus 5:4
The person that sweareth, and uttereth with his lips, that he would do either evil or good, and bindeth the same with an oath, and his word, and having forgotten it afterwards understandeth his offence,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Anima, quæ juraverit, et protulerit labiis suis, ut vel male quid faceret, vel bene, et idipsum juramento et sermone firmaverit, oblitaque postea intellexerit delictum suum,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἢ ψυχὴ ἡ ἄνομος ἡ διαστέλλουσα τοῖς χείλεσιν κακοποιῆσαι ἢ καλῶς ποιῆσαι κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐὰν διαστείλῃ ὁ ἄνθρωπος μεθ᾽ ὅρκου, καὶ λάθῃ αὐτὸν πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ οὗτος γνῷ, καὶ ἁμάρτῃ ἕν τι τούτων.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- א֣וֹ נֶ֡פֶשׁ כִּ֣י תִשָּׁבַע֩ לְבַטֵּ֨א בִשְׂפָתַ֜יִם לְהָרַ֣ע א֣וֹ לְהֵיטִ֗יב לְ֠כֹל אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְבַטֵּ֧א הָאָדָ֛ם בִּשְׁבֻעָ֖ה וְנֶעְלַ֣ם מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וְהוּא יָדַ֥ע וְאָשֵׁ֖ם לְאַחַ֥ת מֵאֵֽלֶּה
Haydock's commentary
Lips. This is necessary before he can be punished by men; but every secret promise binds before God. (Tostat)
Evil or good: any thing whatsoever, whether favour or punishment, whether the completion of it be difficult or easy. (Calmet)
Thus parents sometimes foolishly swear that they will chastise their children unmercifully; libertines that they will live in luxuries as long as they have any money; ill-natured people that they will never speak to such a one, that they will murder, &c. To execute such promises, even confirmed by an oath, would be a double crime. Let them ask pardon of God for their rash oath. (Philo)
Herod made his oath a pretext for killing John the Baptist, deluding himself, perhaps, with a false interpretation of this law. (Haydock)
As such hasty oaths are easily forgotten, when the guilty person recollected himself, he was bound to confess his fault to the priest in the following manner, according to the Rabbins: Placing his hands between the horns of his victim, he shall say, "I beseech you, Lord, I have sinned; I have committed iniquity and prevarication; I have committed such a fault. I repent, I am filled with sorrow and confusion for having done so; I will relapse no more." These doctors teach, that without confession and sorrow no sacrifice will remit sin. (Calmet)
To preserve the secret of confession, the priests were ordered to eat the victims alone. (Philo, &c.) (Tirinus)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.