1 Thessalonians 5:27

27. I charge you Literally, I put you upon oath by the Lord. Bloomfield quotes from Bishop Benson as follows: “There were two ways of taking an oath, both of which, by the Jewish canons, were binding: 1. When a man swore by his own mouth, or pronounced the oath himself. 2. When he was adjured by the mouth of another, and that other pronounced the oath, and thereby laid him under the obligation of it. In all cases, an execration or curse is supposed to attend an oath; to which execration the person who takes it is exposed if he swear falsely. See Joshua 6:26; 1 Samuel 14:24; 1 Kings 2:23. When a person was adjured, he was bound by an oath, and it is lawful to answer to such an oath, as appears by our Saviour’s answering to the high-priest when he was adjured by the living God; and that other solemn oaths are lawful, see note on James 5:12. Why so solemn an adjuration that this epistle be read unto all? The oath and the express all suggest to some the thought that St. Paul suspected that official self-importance might desire to monopolize so important a document as an apostolic letter, containing extraordinary revelations, among a few. The popish withholding of the Scriptures may, in type, have already begun. But the all probably means simply the public congregation; and the read means the public reading in its presence. It is then, perhaps, sufficiently explained, particularly the all, on Alford’s supposition of its being simply an earnestness of expression characterizing this solemn close of the epistle. At any rate, this is a significant text against withholding the holy Scriptures from the people.