So May God Do To Me! The Hebrew Bible contains an enigmatic phrase: πyswy hkw µyhla yl hç[y hk. These words can be translated as follows: “So may God do to me and more also.” The expression is found in the books of Samuel, Kings and Ruth, and is invariably followed by a solemn pledge (1). It is not clear to what exactly the expression refers, though it is evident that a severe punishment is implied (2). The combination of the verb hc[ “to do” and the preposition l “to” may also have the more positive meaning of “to do on behalf of” (3). This expression, however, has no such positive meaning, but is rather an imprecation of oneself. The negative meaning becomes particularly evident from 1 Sam 3,17, where Eli the priest does not imprecate himself, but imprecates his junior assistant Samuel: rbd rça rbdh lkm rbd ynmm djkt µa πyswy hkw µyhla ˚l hç[y hk ˚yla “So may God do to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you”. Eli’s threat impresses Samuel so much that he tells his master everything instantly. Below, I will address the origins and the usage of the Hebrew self- imprecatory formula. Also, I will endeavour to discover to what extent those who pronounced the formula appear to have been aware of the self- imprecatory nature of the phrase. And finally, I will try to shed some light on the degree to which its use met with disapproval in early Judaism and early Christianity. 1. A conditional self-imprecation In many cases, the phrase πyswy hkw µyhla yl hç[y hk is immediately conditioned: “So may God do to me and more also, if ...” The condition always relates to future actions either by the speaker himself or for which the speaker will take responsibility at least partly. God may punish the speaker, if the latter fails his promise (4). If, on the other hand, the promise is kept, the self-imprecation is revoked automatically (5). (1) The phrase occurs in 2 Sam 3,35; 19,14 (transl. 19,13); 1 Kgs 2,23; 2 Kgs 6,31. The phrase also occurs in 1 Sam 14,44; 20,13; 25,22; 2 Sam 3,9; 1 Kgs 19,2; 20,10; Ruth 1,17, though in somewhat altered forms. (2) The Good News Bible renders the phrase as follows: “May God strike me dead” or, in the case of Ruth 1,17, as: “May the Lord’s most severe punishment come upon me”. (3) See 1 Sam 14,6; Isa 5,4, etc. (4) For biblical self-imprecations in which the deity is not the subject of the curse, see Ps 7,4-6; 137,5-6; Job 31,7-10.19-22.38-40. In Ps 7 and Job 31, the self-imprecatory phrases are a way of stressing claims of innocence. (5) The conditional self-imprecation differs from the biblical “vow” (Hebrew: rd