Matthew 5:33 (YLT)

Passage

`Again, ye heard that it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not swear falsely, but thou shalt pay to the Lord thine oaths;

Nearby Context

Matthew 5:31 `And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce;

Matthew 5:32 but I--I say to you, that whoever may put away his wife, save for the matter of whoredom, doth make her to commit adultery; and whoever may marry her who hath been put away doth commit adultery.

Matthew 5:33 `Again, ye heard that it was said to the ancients: Thou shalt not swear falsely, but thou shalt pay to the Lord thine oaths;

Matthew 5:34 but I--I say to you, not to swear at all; neither by the heaven, because it is the throne of God,

Matthew 5:35 nor by the earth, because it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, because it is a city of a great king,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "again", "heard", "said", "ancients", "thou", "shalt", "swear", and "falsely". 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--I say to you that whoever..." into verse 34's "but I--I say to you not to...", 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.