so help me

Idioms

Also, so help me God. I swear that what I am saying is true, as in So help me, I haven't enough cash to pay for the tickets, or I wasn't there, so help me God. This idiom became a formula for swearing a formal oath and is still so used in courts of law for swearing in a witness (I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God). It was first recorded in 1508 as “So help me, our Lord.”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"I never took nothing from a looter, so help me god. Donny made every piece of that up."

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2021

I solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald Trump, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the constitution and laws: so help me God.

From The Guardian • Jan. 16, 2020

“I promise ‘impartial justice, so help me God,’ and I want to stick by that.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 22, 2019

Both Presidents Barack Obama and Trump used the phrase "so help me, God," a tradition historians trace back to President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.

From Fox News • May 1, 2019

And when she stepped into my arms, so help me God, I nearly wept.

From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023