---
title: Matthew 5:35
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-35/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-35.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 5:35
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 5:35

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "nor by earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King."

## JW Usage

Matthew 5:35 receives little JW commentary in apologetic contexts. The verse continues Jesus's prohibition on swearing oaths and is treated as supporting the JW practice of refusing to swear secular oaths. Where the verse appears, it functions as background to the broader principle: let your "yes" mean yes and your "no" mean no.

## Protestant Usage

Matthew 5:35 is part of the universal-priesthood case in a small way: Jerusalem is "the city of the great King" — the King's presence makes the city holy, not the city's geography. Pair with Hebrews 12:22-24 (believers have "approached… the heavenly Jerusalem") and 1 Peter 2:9 (the church as a "royal priesthood, a holy nation"). The earthly Jerusalem prefigured what the new covenant accomplished — the King dwelling among his people. The Watchtower's two-tier reading of priestly access (where 144,000 are priests and the great crowd is on the outside) is the precise pattern Hebrews and Peter say has been replaced by universal access through Christ.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [A Royal Priesthood — Every Believer is a Priest](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/universal-priesthood-1peter29.md) — 1 Peter 2:9 / Revelation 1:6 / 5:10 — The end of mediating classes [Authority]