על עשרת הדברות י״זOn the Decalogue 17
א׳
1[82] We have now discussed as fully as possible the second commandment. Let us proceed to examine carefully the next in order, not to take God’s name in vain. Now the reason for the position of this commandment in the list will be understood by those who have clear-sighted minds, for the name always stands second to the thing which it represents as the shadow which follows the body.
ב׳
2[83] So after speaking first about the existence of the Ever-existent and the honour due to Him as such, He follows it at once in orderly sequence by giving a commandment on the proper use of His title, for the errors of men in this part of their duty are manifold and multiform.
ג׳
3[84]To swear not at all is the best course and most profitable to life, well suited to a rational nature which has been taught to speak the truth so well on each occasion that its words are regarded as oaths; to swear truly is only, as people say, a “second-best voyage,” for the mere fact of his swearing casts suspicion on the trustworthiness of the man.
ד׳
4[85] Let him, then, lag and linger in the hope that by repeated postponement he may avoid the oath altogether.
ה׳
5But, if necessity be too strong for him, he must consider in no careless fashion all that an oath involves, for that is no small thing, though custom makes light of it.
ו׳
6[86] For an oath is an appeal to God as a witness on matters in dispute, and to call Him as witness to a lie is the height of profanity. Be pleased, I beg you, to take a look with the aid of your reason into the mind of the intending perjurer. You will see there a mind not at peace but full of uproar and confusion, labouring under accusation, suffering all manner of insult and reviling.
ז׳
7[87] For every soul has for its birth-fellow and house-mate a monitor whose way is to admit nothing that calls for censure, whose nature is ever to hate evil and love virtue, who is its accuser and its judge in one. If he be once roused as accuser he censures, accuses and puts the soul to shame, and again as judge, he instructs, admonishes and exhorts it to change its ways. And if he has the strength to persuade it, he rejoices and makes peace. But if he cannot, he makes war to the bitter end, never leaving it alone by day or night, but plying it with stabs and deadly wounds until he breaks the thread of its miserable and ill-starred life.