[12] ye be slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. [13] For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no he sware by himself, [14] Saying, blessing and multiplying [15] And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. [16] For men swear by and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. [17] Wherein God, willing to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: