Matthew Chapter 5 verse 37 Holy Bible

ASV Matthew 5:37

But let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil `one'.
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BBE Matthew 5:37

But let your words be simply, Yes or No: and whatever is more than these is of the Evil One.
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DARBY Matthew 5:37

But let your word be Yea, yea; Nay, nay; but what is more than these is from evil.
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KJV Matthew 5:37

But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
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WBT Matthew 5:37


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WEB Matthew 5:37

But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No' be 'no.' Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.
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YLT Matthew 5:37

but let your word be, Yes, Yes, No, No, and that which is more than these is of the evil.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 37. - Your communication. Similarly, the Authorized Version in Ephesians 4:29, in archaic usage for "talk." Yea, yea; Nay, nay. Christ permits as far as the repetition of the asseveration. The adoption here by a few authorities of the phrase in James 5:12 ("Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay," τὸ ναὶ ναὶ κ.τ.λ..)is unsuitable; for here the question is not of truthfulness, but of fervency in asseveration. Whatsoever is more than these; "that which is over and above these" (Rheims). There is a superfluity (περισσόν) in more fervent asseverations, which has its origin ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῖ. Cometh of evil. So the Revised Version margin, "as in ver. 39; 6:13.' Revised Version, is of the evil one (vide Matthew 6:13, note; and cf. 1 John 3:12).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(37) Let your communication.--One of the few instances in which our translators seem to have preferred a somewhat pedantic Latin word for the more literal and homely English speech. (Comp. Luke 24:17.)Yea, yea.--St. James reproduces the precept in James 5:12 of his Epistle, but the phrase is found in the Talmud, and was probably proverbial. In all common speech a man's words should be as good as his oath. Yes should mean yes, and No should mean no, even though there be no oath to strengthen it.Cometh of evil.--The Greek may (as in the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from evil") be either neuter, "from evil in the abstract," or masculine, "from the evil one." With some hesitation, and guided chiefly by Matthew 13:19-38, I accept the latter as the more probable. These devices of fantastic oaths come not from Him who is the Truth, but from him who "when he speaketh a lie, speaketh of his own" (John 8:44).