Empty words, a heavy Name
The only one of the ten that says Hashem "will not clear" the person who breaks it.
Two words carry the verse. Tisa means "carry" or "lift up," and here it means putting Hashem's name on your words, as in an oath. Shav means "empty," "for nothing." The Sages read the verse as a law about oaths: an oath in Hashem's name that is empty from the start. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Spain and Egypt, 1100s) counts four kinds, and then says:
An oath that is a lie, or a sworn promise that is then broken, has its own name: a false oath (shevuat sheker). The Rambam ties it to a different verse:
The two are close. Our verse says "for nothing" twice, and the Gemara learns from the second one that a false oath is punished too (Shevuot 21a). Onkelos, the ancient Aramaic translation, renders that second "for nothing" as "falsely."
Our own observation: a false oath is a lie with Hashem's name on it. A vain oath is a different problem: it is pointless from the start, so Hashem's name is put on nothing at all.
Four kinds of empty oath
The Mishnah asks what a vain oath is, and answers with examples.
The Rambam arranges vain oaths in four kinds. His list is not the Mishnah's one for one: his second kind, swearing to the obvious, is not in the Mishnah.
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1
Denying what everyone knows
שְׁבוּעַת שָׁוְא נֶחְלֶקֶת לְאַרְבַּע מַחֲלוֹקוֹת. הָאַחַת שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע עַל דָּבָר הַיָּדוּעַ שֶׁאֵין כֵּן. כֵּיצַד. כְּגוֹן שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע עַל הָאִישׁ שֶׁהוּא אִשָּׁה. וְעַל הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁהוּא אִישׁ. וְעַל עַמּוּד שֶׁל שַׁיִשׁ שֶׁהוּא שֶׁל זָהָב
"A vain oath comes in four kinds. The first: he swore about something known, that it is not so. How? He swore that a man is a woman, that a woman is a man, or that a marble pillar is gold."
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2
Swearing to the obvious
הַשְּׁנִיָּה שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע עַל דָּבָר יָדוּעַ שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ סָפֵק לְאָדָם שֶׁהוּא כֵּן. כְּגוֹן שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם שֶׁהוּא שָׁמַיִם. וְעַל הָאֶבֶן זוֹ שֶׁהִיא אֶבֶן
"The second: he swore about something so well known that no one doubts it is so. For example, he swore that the sky is the sky, or that this stone is a stone."
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3
Swearing to cancel a mitzvah
שְׁלִישִׁית שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע לְבַטֵּל אֶת הַמִּצְוָה. כֵּיצַד. כְּגוֹן שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע שֶׁלֹּא יִתְעַטֵּף בְּצִיצִית. שֶׁלֹּא יִלְבַּשׁ תְּפִלִּין. וְשֶׁלֹּא יֵשֵׁב בַּסֻּכָּה בְּחַג הַסֻּכּוֹת
"The third: he swore to cancel a mitzvah. How? He swore not to wrap himself in tzitzit, not to put on tefillin, or not to sit in the sukkah on the holiday of Sukkot."
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4
Swearing to do what no one can do
רְבִיעִית שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע עַל דָּבָר שֶׁאֵין כֹּחַ בּוֹ לַעֲשׂוֹת. כֵּיצַד. כְּגוֹן שֶׁנִּשְׁבַּע שֶׁלֹּא יִישַׁן שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים לַיְלָה וָיוֹם רְצוּפִים. אוֹ שֶׁלֹּא יִטְעוֹם כְּלוּם שִׁבְעָה יָמִים רְצוּפִים
"The fourth: he swore about something he has no power to do. How? He swore not to sleep for three days, night and day, in a row, or not to taste anything for seven days in a row."
Our own observation: what the four share is that the oath could never do anything. A known fact cannot be changed by swearing, an obvious one needs no oath, and nobody can keep a promise to stay awake for three days. As for a mitzvah: the Gemara says every Jew is already "under oath from Mount Sinai" to keep the mitzvot, and that a new oath cannot take hold on top of one already there (Nedarim 8a). We apply that here. (The Gemara's own reason such an oath does not bind comes from a different verse: Shevuot 27a.)
Vain or not?
Twelve cases. In every oath case, the person swears by Hashem's name. "In vain" here means a forbidden, empty use of Hashem's name. Careful: some oaths are forbidden for other reasons.
A blessing that isn't needed
You do not have to swear to carry Hashem's name for nothing.
A blessing (beracha) says Hashem's name. The Gemara applies the third commandment to a blessing that has no reason to be said:
The Gemara brings this rule while it is discussing havdalah, said both in the Amidah and over a cup of wine. Rava rules that someone who said havdalah in the Amidah still says it over wine, just as with kiddush (Berachot 33b). (Our own observation: the rule still stands; that case simply turned out not to be an unneeded blessing.) The Rambam puts the rule into law:
The Shulchan Aruch (the code of Jewish law by Rabbi Yosef Karo, 1500s) rules it in the same words:
"Not needed" is a term with detailed rules. It does not mean every blessing you were not required to say: blessings on mitzvot a person takes on by choice are a separate question, and many communities say them. Ask your rav about a specific case.
Saying the Name for nothing
No oath and no blessing: just one of God's holy names, said for no reason. The Rambam forbids that too:
His verse is Devarim 28:58. The Gemara also ties saying the name of Heaven for nothing to fearing Hashem, through the verse "Fear Hashem your God" (Temurah 4a). And the Rambam gives a practical way out for the moment it slips:
The Name, through the generations
A shaking world, a greeting in the fields, the Name said aloud on Yom Kippur, a blessing that stopped, and a melody that hid a Name. Step through them.
Its partner on the other tablet
One view in the Mechilta, an early midrash, reads the two tablets side by side. In that view, across from "Do not carry the name in vain" stands "Do not steal."
The Mechilta (an early midrash on Shemot, from the time of the Mishnah) quotes two prophets, Yirmeyahu (7:9) and Hoshea (4:2), who list stealing and false swearing in the same breath. The Torah itself shows how one leads to the other, in the law of a person who keeps what is not his and then denies it:
Notice that the Mechilta calls the thief's lying oath a "vain oath," and proves it from a verse about swearing falsely. Here the two run together, as in the Gemara's reading of our verse (Shevuot 21a).
Our own observation, in plain words: a theft rarely stays a theft. When someone asks about it, the thief denies it, and when the denial is not believed, he backs it up with an oath. Taking what is not yours ends with using Hashem's name to cover it. That fits the reason the Mechilta gives for setting the third commandment across from the eighth.
This is the view of Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel. The same passage ends with a second opinion:
Where it stops
Lo tisa does not mean never saying Hashem's name. Here is where the line falls.
A true oath is allowed
The Torah says it here and again in Devarim 10:20, and the Gemara learns from these verses that a true oath in Hashem's name is permitted (Temurah 3b). Even so, the Rambam ends his Laws of Oaths with advice:
Swearing to push yourself to a mitzvah
Teaching a child a blessing
The Shulchan Aruch rules the same (Orach Chayim 215:3). Both say nobody answers amen to a child who is only practicing. The Shulchan Aruch adds that when a child old enough to be trained says a blessing for himself, people do answer amen.
Writing the Name: ask your rav
Erasing one of God's holy names is a separate prohibition (Rambam, Foundations of the Torah 6:1). Whether the same care applies to "God" written in English, to the Name on a screen, and what to do with school sheets and printouts that carry it, are questions with real detail. Ask your rav.
Common questions
Short answers, with sources.
What does "lo tisa" mean?
"Do not carry," the opening of Shemot 20:7: "Do not carry the name of Hashem your God for nothing." The Sages read it as forbidding an empty oath in Hashem's name (Mishnah Shevuot 3:8; Rambam, Laws of Oaths 1:7).
What is a vain oath?
An oath that is empty from the start. The Rambam counts four kinds: swearing that something known is not so, swearing to something obvious, swearing to cancel a mitzvah, and swearing to do what no one can do (Laws of Oaths 1:4-7).
Is every oath forbidden?
No. The Torah says "swear by His name" (Devarim 6:13 and 10:20), and a true oath is permitted (Temurah 3b). One may even swear to push oneself to a mitzvah (Nedarim 8a). Still, the Rambam writes that it is a great good not to swear at all (Laws of Oaths 12:12).
What if I said one of God's names by mistake?
The Rambam says to follow it right away with words of praise, like "Baruch hu le'olam va'ed," "Blessed is He forever and ever," so that the Name was not said for nothing (Laws of Oaths 12:11).
What is a "beracha she'einah tzricha"?
A blessing that is not needed. The Gemara says whoever makes one breaks "Do not carry the name in vain" (Berachot 33a), and the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch rule that it is forbidden to answer amen to it (Laws of Blessings 1:15; Orach Chayim 215:4). "Not needed" is a term with detailed rules. It does not mean every blessing you were not required to say: blessings on mitzvot a person takes on by choice are a separate question, and many communities say them. Ask your rav about a specific case.
Can children practice blessings with Hashem's name?
Yes. Teaching children the blessings in their proper form is permitted, even though they say them for nothing while learning (Rambam, Laws of Blessings 1:15; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 215:3).
Is saying "God" in English, or "oh my God," lo tisa?
The Rambam's rule is about the special, holy names of God (Laws of Oaths 12:11). For oaths, though, the Rambam rules that swearing by God's name, or by a title like "the Merciful One," in any language is a full oath (Laws of Oaths 2:2), and even "I swear" with no name binds, though without the Torah's punishment (2:4). So "I swear to God" in English can be a real oath. How it applies to "God" in English, and to everyday exclamations, is a question for your rav. Torah Tech's advice: either way, ask yourself what you are using the word for.
Which commandment is its partner in the Mechilta?
In Rabbi Chananya ben Gamliel's view, with five statements on each tablet, "Do not carry the name in vain" stands across from "Do not steal," because whoever steals will end up swearing a vain oath (Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael, Bachodesh 8). The Sages there say all ten were written on each tablet.
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