King James Bible
"But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."
Jesus commands simple, straightforward speech—'yes' means yes and 'no' means no, without elaborate oaths or embellishments. This teaching directly challenges the Jewish practice of swearing by various things (heaven, earth, Jerusalem) to add weight to one's words, instead calling for radical honesty in everyday conversation. The need for oaths beyond simple affirmation or denial reveals an underlying culture of dishonesty and manipulation. Jesus identifies such practices as originating from evil (or 'the evil one'), suggesting that in God's kingdom, one's character should be so trustworthy that their plain word suffices.