And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor.

And whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

And, whoever may swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever may swear by the gift that is upon it, is debtor!

And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty.

And you say, "'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the offering lying on it is bound by the oath.'

And, Whoever takes an oath by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever takes an oath by the offering which is on it, he is responsible.

And you say: 'Whoever will have sworn by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever will have sworn by the gift that is on the altar is obligated.'

You say, too, 'If anyone swears by the altar, their oath counts for nothing, but, if anyone swears by the offering placed on it, their oath is binding on them'!

And whosoever shall swear by the altar. Here our Lord does what ought to be done in correcting errors; for he leads us up to the source, and shows, by the very nature of an oath, that the temple is far more valuable than the gifts which are offered in it. He accordingly assumes this principle, that it is not lawful to swear but by the name of God alone. Hence it follows that, whatever forms men may employ in swearing, they must give to God the honor which is due to him; and hence also it follows in what manner and to what extent we are at liberty to swear by the temple, namely, because it is the residence or sanctuary of God; and by heaven, because there the glory of God shines. God permits himself to be called as a witness and judge, by means of such symbols of his presence, provided that he retain his authority unimpaired; for to ascribe any Divinity to heaven would be detestable idolatry. Now so far as God holds out to us a brighter mirror of his glory in the temple than in offerings, so much the greater reverence and sacredness is due to the name of the temple. We now perceive, therefore, in what sense Christ says that we swear by him who inhabits heaven, when we swear by heaven itself. His design is, to direct all forms of swearing to their lawful end and object.

The altar - The altar of burnt-offerings, in the court of the priests. See the notes at Matthew 21:12. It was made of brass, about 30 feet in length and breadth, and 15 feet in height, 2-Chronicles 4:1. On this altar were offered all the beasts and bloody oblations of the temple.
The gift that is upon it - The gift or offering made to God, so called because it was devoted or "given" to him. The gift upon this altar was always beasts and birds.

And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing,.... These are again the words or savings of the scribes and Pharisees, and express their sentiments and practice: it was usual with them to swear by the altar; and this was reckoned either no sin at all, or such an oath was not accounted binding on a man; he might break, or keep it as he thought fit: of this kind of swearing, we have the following instances. One said to another (r),
"swear to me that thou wilt not discover me, and he swore to him; by what did he swear? says R. Jose bar Chanina, , "by the innermost altar".''
Again, it is said of Zedekiah (s),
"that he (Nebuchadnezzar) made him to swear; by what did he make him to swear? says R. Jose, by the covenant he made him to swear; Rabbi says "by the altar" he made him to swear.''
And elsewhere (t) it is said of him,
""and he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God", 2-Chronicles 36:13. By what did he make him swear? says R. Jose bar Chanina, "by the horns of the innermost altar" he made him swear.''
But whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty: of perjury, if he does not make good his oath; he is bound to perform it, it is obligatory; whatever he swore should be a gift for the altar, he was indispensably obliged to bring it; for whatever he swore by "Korban", or the gift, could never be put to any other use.
(r) Echa Rabbati, fol. 54. 1. (s) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 78. 1. (t) Midrash Megillat Esther, fol. 89. 1.

The altar. That of the temple, the only altar known in Israel.
The gift. The offering placed on the altar.