verb
omnuamō
Strong’sG3660
I swear, take an oath
stem omnu-26 times in the New Testamentin 7 of 27 books10 forms occur
What it means
A plain-English reading of the word, with the lexicons it draws on — Abbott-Smith, Strong's, and Liddell-Scott-Jones — right below it, in full.
AI Summary
Ὀμνύω means to swear, take an oath, affirm or declare something by oath 124. It is used of swearing that something is or is not the case, that one will or will not do something, and of swearing by a person or thing invoked as witness to the oath 13. The word can appear with the person to whom the oath is sworn, with the content of what is sworn, or with the thing or person sworn by, but in every case the underlying sense is the same act of solemnly affirming something under oath 13.
Sources: 1 Abbott-Smith 2 Strong's 3 LSJ 4 Dodson. Condensed by anthropic/claude-sonnet-5 on 2026-09-23 — it may still misstate what these say; check them yourself if it matters to you.
The lexicons it was drawn from, in full:
Abbott-Smith — the 1922 lexicon entry, in full
ὀμνύω
(so Hdt. and some Att. writers) and ὄμνυμι (so generally in Att. prose and always in Trag.; Mk 14:71, -ύναι), [in LXX chiefly for שׁבע ni.;]
G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 1922 — public domain. References open in the reader.
Strong’s G3660 — the 1890 definition, and where the word comes from
Saidom-noo'-o
to swear, i.e. take (or declare on) oath
Froma prolonged form of a primary, but obsolete ὄμω, for which another prolonged form ὀμόω is used in certain tenses;
King Jamesswear.
James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, 1890 — public domain. The numbers in it link to the entries here.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — the classical dictionary this word appears in
Refs 5th c.BC+; imperative ὄμνῠθι Refs 8th c.BC+; 3rd.pers. singular ὀμνύτω Refs; 3rd.pers. plural ὀμνύντων. Foed. cited in Refs 5th c.BC+: imperfect ὤμνυν Refs 5th c.BC+: also (from present ὀμνύω) 3rd.pers. singular imperative ὀμνῠέτω Refs 8th c.BC+; participle ὀμνύουσα Refs 4th c.BC+: imperfect ὤμνῠον Refs 8th c.BC+ (for present indicative the Trag. and Refs 5th c.BC+ which also occurs in Comedy texts, Refs 5th c.BC+: future ὀμοῦμαι, εῖ, εῖται, Refs 8th c.BC+; Doric dialect 1st pers. plural ὀμιώμεθα Refs 5th c.BC+; later future ὀμόσω Refs 1st c.AD+: aorist ὤμοσα Refs 8th c.BC+; Epic dialect ὤμοσσα Refs 8th c.BC+: perfect ὀμώμοκα Refs 5th c.BC+: pluperfect ὠμωμόκειν Refs 5th c.BC+:—middle, Refs 2nd c.AD+, aorist participle ὀμοσάμενος Refs 3rd c.BC+:—passive, future ὀμοσθήσομαι Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist ὠμόσθην Refs 5th c.BC+: perfect 3rd.pers. singular ὀμώμοται Refs 5th c.BC+; 3rd.pers. plural ὀμώμονται Legal cited in Refs 5th c.BC+; participle ὀμωμοσμένος Refs 4th c.BC+:—swear, with accusative cognate, ὀμνυέτω δέ τοι ὅρκον Refs 8th c.BC+:—passive, ὀμώμοται γὰρ ὅοκος ἐκ θεῶν Refs 4th c.BC+
II swear to a thing, affirm or confirm by oath,
II.1 followed by accusative, ταῦτα δ᾽ ἐγὼν ἐθέλω ὀμόσαι Refs 8th c.BC+; ὄ. τὰς σπονδάς Foed. cited in Refs 5th c.BC+
II.2 followed by future infinitive, swear that one will.., Refs 8th c.BC+ (present infinitive, Refs 4th c.BC+ preceding the infinitive, καί μοι ὄμοσσον ἦ μέν μοι.. ἀρήξειν Refs 8th c.BC+aorist infinitive and ἄν, Refs: by present infinitive, swear that one does.., Refs 5th c.BC+: by perfect infinitive, swear that one has.., Refs 5th c.BC+: by aorist infinitive, swear that one did.., ὀμνύουσι μὴ 'κπιεῖν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ μίαν Refs 5th c.BC+(aorist infinitive is perhaps used, without ἄν, in future sense, Refs 4th c.BC+: sometimes a clause follows in the indicative, ὀμνύω.., ἦ μὴν ἐγὼ ἐθυόμην Refs 5th c.BC+
II.3 absolutely, εἶπον ὀμόσας ἄν I would have given my word of honour, Refs 5th c.BC+
III with accusative of the person or thing sworn by, swear by, νῦν μοι ὄμοσσον ἀάατον Στυγὸς ὕδωρ Refs 8th c.BC+; ὄμνυμι θεοὺς καὶ θεάς followed by infinitive, Refs 5th c.BC+; ἢ σιδαρέοισ; NT+5th c.BC+passive, ὀμώμοσται Ζεύς Zeus has been sworn by, adjured, Refs 5th c.BC+
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (9th ed., 1925–1940) — digitised by the Perseus Digital Library and corrected and expanded by Tyndale House, Cambridge, via STEPBible-Data's TFLSJ table, CC BY 4.0. Covers all of Greek literature, not just the Bible.
Translated as
Every occurrence, sorted by the English it was actually given — the evidence for what the word means, not a gloss of it.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain — berean.bible.
Biblang forms
What the New Testament actually uses, first — the whole system this verb is built from is one click further down.
| Form and the Greek behind it | What it is | Usually | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| omnuatōὀμνύει | happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular | swears | 3× |
| omnualōὀμνύουσιν | happening now · theypresent active indicative 3rd person plural | swear | 1× |
| omnuamaὤμοσα | happened · Iaorist active indicative 1st person singular | swore | 2× |
| omnuataὤμοσεν | happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular | swore | 7× |
| omnuaseiaὀμόσῃς | happened · youaorist active subjunctive 2nd person singular | swear | 1× |
| omnuateiaὀμόσῃ | happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular | swears | 4× |
| omnuavōrὀμνύετε | happening now · yepresent active imperative 2nd person plural | swear | 1× |
| omnuarōὀμνύειν | happening now · the “to …” formpresent active infinitive | swear | 2× |
| omnuaraὀμόσαι | happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive | swear | 2× |
| omnuarantosὀμόσας | happened · subjectaorist active participle nominative singular masculine | swears | 3× |
Every form the New Testament uses, in paradigm order. What the system can build beyond them — the whole of this verb, whether the text happens to use it or not — is in the tables below.
Every form the system can build — all 86, by mood, including the ones the New Testament never uses
Statements — indicative mood, 13 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | was happening imperfect | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect | had happened pluperfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | omnuamō | omnuame | omnuami | omnuama2×ὤμοσα | omnuamē | omnuamelē |
| you 2nd person singular | omnuasō | omnuase | omnuasi | omnuasa | omnuasē | omnuaselē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | omnuatō3×ὀμνύει | omnuate | omnuati | omnuata7×ὤμοσεν | omnuatē | omnuatelē |
| we 1st person plural | omnuanō | omnuane | omnuani | omnuana | omnuanē | omnuanelē |
| ye 2nd person plural | omnuavō | omnuave | omnuavi | omnuava | omnuavē | omnuavelē |
| they 3rd person plural | omnualō1×ὀμνύουσιν | omnuale | omnuali | omnuala | omnualē | omnualelē |
May, might — subjunctive mood, 5 occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | omnuameiō | omnuameia | omnuameiē |
| you 2nd person singular | omnuaseiō | omnuaseia1×ὀμόσῃς | omnuaseiē |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | omnuateiō | omnuateia4×ὀμόσῃ | omnuateiē |
| we 1st person plural | omnuaneiō | omnuaneia | omnuaneiē |
| ye 2nd person plural | omnuaveiō | omnuaveia | omnuaveiē |
| they 3rd person plural | omnualeiō | omnualeia | omnualeiē |
Commands — imperative mood, 1 occurrence
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|
| you 2nd person singular | omnuasōr | omnuasar | omnuasēr |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | omnuatōr | omnuatar | omnuatēr |
| ye 2nd person plural | omnuavōr1×ὀμνύετε | omnuavar | omnuavēr |
| they 3rd person plural | omnualōr | omnualar | omnualēr |
Wishes — optative mood, no occurrences
| Who person | happening now present | happened aorist |
|---|---|---|
| I 1st person singular | omnuamoiō | omnuamoia |
| you 2nd person singular | omnuasoiō | omnuasoia |
| he/she/it 3rd person singular | omnuatoiō | omnuatoia |
| we 1st person plural | omnuanoiō | omnuanoia |
| ye 2nd person plural | omnuavoiō | omnuavoia |
| they 3rd person plural | omnualoiō | omnualoia |
The “to …” form — infinitive, 4 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | omnuarō2×ὀμνύειν | omnuari | omnuara2×ὀμόσαι | omnuarē |
Used as an adjective — participle, 3 occurrences
| Who is acting voice | happening now present | will happen future | happened aorist | has happened perfect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| the subject acts active voice | omnuarōntos | omnuarintos | omnuarantos3×ὀμόσας | omnuarēntos |
Each is given in the form it takes as a subject. From there a participle carries the ordinary noun endings, in every case, number and gender — so these four columns are the whole of what the verb contributes.
How every form is built — the slots that make them
omnu is this word in every one of its forms. The slots after it make all the rest.
same in every form varies — every value shown
Where it appears
Every verse the word appears in, filed under the form it takes there.
26 occurrences, every one of them listed
omnuatō“swears”happening now · he/she/itpresent active indicative 3rd person singular3×
Matthew 23:20tos oun omnuarantos en te thusiastērie omnuatō en aute kai en pantei tei …… he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on …
Matthew 23:21kai tos omnuarantos en to nao omnuatō en auto kai en to katoikarōnto …And he who swears by the temple swears by it …
Matthew 23:22kai tos omnuarantos en to ourano omnuatō en to throno tou theou kai …And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the …
omnualō“swear”happening now · theypresent active indicative 3rd person plural1×
Hebrews 6:16anthrōpois gar kata tou megoterou omnualō, kai pantau autoi antilogiau peratem eis …Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and …
omnuama“swore”happened · Iaorist active indicative 1st person singular2×
Hebrews 3:11hōs omnuama en ta orga mu; Ei eisercheli …So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They …
Hebrews 4:3… katapausian tois pisteuarantois, kathōs legatē; Hōs omnuama en ta orga mu, Ei eisercheli …… as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They …
omnuata“swore”happened · he/she/itaorist active indicative 3rd person singular7×
Mark 6:23kai omnuata auta; Hem tinem ean min aitaseia …And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of …
Luke 1:73horkon hon omnuata pros Abraam ton patron nu, teu …the oath He swore to our father Abraham, to grant …
Acts 2:30“sworn”… oun huparcharōntos, kai horarēntos hoti horko omnuata auto tos theos ek karpou tau …But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that He would place one of his descendants …
Hebrews 3:18tinoi de omnuata mē eisercheri eis tan katapausian autou …And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His …
Hebrews 6:13… epei kata oudenou echate megoterou omnuara, omnuata kata heautou,… one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
Hebrews 7:21… horkōmosiau dia tou legarōntou pros auton; Omnuata kurios, kai ouk metameliti, Sis hierevos …… said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind …
Revelation 10:6kai omnuata to zōarōnto eis toin aiōnoin toiu …And he swore by Him who lives forever and …
omnuaseia“swear”happened · youaorist active subjunctive 2nd person singular1×
Matthew 5:36mēte en ta kefala su omnuaseia, hoti ouk dunosō henan trichan leukan …Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot …
omnuateia“swears”happened · he/she/itaorist active subjunctive 3rd person singular4×
Matthew 23:16… hodēgoir tufloir tois legarōntoir; Hos an omnuateia en to nao, oudenem atō, hos …… blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing …
Matthew 23:16… nao, oudenem atō, hos de an omnuateia en to chruso tou naou ofeilatō.… it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple …
Matthew 23:18kai; Hos an omnuateia en te thusiastērie, oudenem atō, hos …And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing …
Matthew 23:18… thusiastērie, oudenem atō, hos de an omnuateia en te dōre te epanō auteu …… it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he …
omnuavōr“swear”happening now · yepresent active imperative 2nd person plural1×
James 5:12Pro panteiu de, adelfoir mu, mē omnuavōr, mēte ton ouranon mēte tan gēan …Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or …
omnuarō“swear”happening now · the “to …” formpresent active infinitive2×
Matthew 26:74tote archeta katathematizarō kai omnuarō hoti Ouk oidamē ton anthrōpon. kai …… that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know …
Mark 14:71tos de archeta anathematizarō kai omnuarō hoti Ouk oidamē ton anthrōpon houton …But he began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man …
omnuara“swear”happened · the “to …” formaorist active infinitive2×
Matthew 5:34mis de legamō vi mē omnuara holōs; mēte en to ourano, hoti …But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for …
Hebrews 6:13… theos, epei kata oudenou echate megoterou omnuara, omnuata kata heautou,… He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself,
omnuarantos“swears”happened · subjectaorist active participle nominative singular masculine3×
Matthew 23:20tos oun omnuarantos en te thusiastērie omnuatō en aute …So then, he who swears by the altar swears by it …
Matthew 23:21kai tos omnuarantos en to nao omnuatō en auto …… he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the One …
Matthew 23:22kai tos omnuarantos en to ourano omnuatō en to …And he who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne …