¹⁶ When people take oaths, they base their oaths on someone greater than themselves. Their oaths guarantee what they say and end all arguments. ¹⁷ God wouldn’t change his plan. He wanted to make this perfectly clear to those who would receive his promise, so he took an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that we would be encouraged. God cannot lie when he takes an oath or makes a promise. These two things can never be changed. Those of us who have taken refuge in him hold on to the confidence we have been given.