AN OATH, or the CURSE that enforces one — not sin's ordinary word (that is chet or avon) but the self-maledictory bond of a promise: swear falsely, and the oath you spoke becomes the curse that finds you. This chapter uses the same noun of the covenant oath itself (29:11–13) and, a few verses later, of the curse that falls on whoever breaks it (29:18–20) — one Hebrew word on both sides of the same ceremony, because a covenant here IS an oath, and an oath already carries its own penalty inside its name. ⚠ Distinct from the unrelated verb spelled identically in transliteration, ALAH, ‘to go up’ — a different first letter in Hebrew (ayin, not aleph). → first discussed at Deut 29:11