Matthew 5:33 (WEB)

Passage

“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4

Nearby Context

Matthew 5:31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorce,’Deuteronomy 24:1

Matthew 5:32 but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.

Matthew 5:33 “Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21; Ecclesiastes 5:4

Matthew 5:34 but I tell you, don’t swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

Matthew 5:35 nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "again", "heard", "said", "time", "shall", "make", "false", and "vows". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "again" and "heard", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 32's "but I tell you that whoever puts..." into verse 34's "but I tell you don t swear...", so "again" and "heard" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "again" and "heard" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.