11. But we desire that each one of you show the same diligence until the end for the fulfillment of your hope,
12. that ye not become slothful, but imitators of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises.
13. For when God promised unto Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
14. saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee.
15. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16. For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all controversy.
17. In which God, desiring to show more abundantly unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath,