Psalms 144:8

Whose mouth speaketh vanity, &c.— Whose mouth uttereth falsehood, and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit: "For with that hand, as with a pledge, they confirmed the treaties of peace and leagues of friendship made with them; all which they have perfidiously broken." Lifting up the hand was the usual ceremony at the taking of an oath. See Genesis 14:22. So that this verse seems to contain a repetition of the same sense; agreeable to which the Chaldee interprets the former part of the verse to mean a false oath; and the Arabic renders the latter part thus, and their oath it an oath of iniquity. May not this ancient solemnity of lifting up the hand have given rise to the custom practised at this day in our courts of justice, where the party accused holds up his hand when he declares himself guilty or not guilty of the facts laid to his charge?