The Oath of Asaph, also known as the Oath of Asaph and Yohanan, is a code of conduct for Hebrew physicians. It may have been written in the 6th century CE,[1] which would make Asaph the oldest known Hebrew medical writer.[2]
[1] This is the pact which Asaph ben Berakhyahu and Yohanan ben Zabda made with their pupils, and they adjured them with the following words:
[2] Do not attempt to kill any soul by means of a potion of herbs,
[3] Do not make a woman [who is] pregnant [as a result of] of whoring take a drink with a view to causing abortion,
[4] Do not covet beauty of form in women with a view to fornicating with them,
[5] Do not divulge the secret of a man who has trusted you,
[6] Do not take any reward [which may be offered in order to induce you] to destroy and to ruin,
[7] Do not harden your heart [and turn it away] from pitying the poor and healing the needy,
[8] Do not say of [what is] good; it is bad, nor of [what is] bad: it is good,
[9] Do not adopt the ways of the sorcerers using [as they do] charms, augury and sorcery in order to separate a man from the wife of his bosom or a woman from the companion of her youth,
[10] You shall not covet any wealth or reward [which may be offered in order to induce you] to help in a lustful desire,
[11] You shall not seek help in any idolatrous [worship] so as to heal through [a recourse to idols], and you shall not heal with anything [pertaining] to their worship,
[12] But on the contrary detest and abhor and hate all those who worship them, put their trust in them, and give assurance [referring] to them,
[13] For they are all naught, useless, for they are nothing, demons, spirits of the dead; they cannot help their own corpses, how then could they help those who live?
[14] Now [then] put your trust in the Lord, your God, [who is] a true God, a living God,
[15] For [it is] He who kills and makes alive, who wounds and heals,
[16] Who teaches men knowledge and also to profit,
[17] Who wounds with justice and righteousness, and who heals with pity and compassion,
[18] No designs of [His] sagacity are beyond His [power]
[19] And nothing is hidden from His eyes.
[20] Who causes curative plants to grow,
[21] Who puts sagacity into the hearts of the wise in order that they should heal through the abundance of His loving-kindness, and that they should recount wonders in the congregation of many; so that every living [being] knows that He made him and that there is no saviour [other] than He.
[22] For the nations trust in their idols, who [are supposed] to save them from their distress and will not deliver them from their misfortunes
[23] For their trust and hope is in the dead.
[24] For this [reason] it is fitting to keep yourselves separate from them; to remove yourselves and keep far away from all the abominations of their idols,
[25] And to cleave to the name of the Lord God of spirits for all flesh,
[26] And the soul of every living being is in His hand to kill and to make live,
[27] And there is none that can deliver out of His hand.
[28] Remember Him always and seek Him in truth, in righteousness in an upright way, in order that you should prosper in all your works
[29] And He will give you help to make you prosper in [what you are doing], and you shall be [said to be] happy in the mouth of all flesh.
[30] And the nations will abandon their idols and images and will desire to worship God like you,
[31] For they will know that their trust is in vain and their endeavor fruitless,
[32] For they implore a god, who will not do good [to them], who will not save [them].
[33] As for you, be strong, do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded,
[34] The Lord is with you, while you are with Him,
[35] If you keep His pact, follow His commandments, cleaving to them,
[36] You will be regarded as His saints in the eyes of all flesh, and they will say:
[37] Happy the people whose [lot] is such, happy the people whose God is the Lord.
[38] Their pupils answered saying:
[40] We will do all that you exhorted and ordered us [to do],
[41] For it is a commandment of the Torah,
[42] And we must do it with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our might, To do and to obey
[43] Not to swerve or turn aside to the right hand or the left
[44] And they [Asaph and Yohanan] blessed them in the name of God most high, maker of heaven and earth.
[45] And they continued to charge them, and said:
[46] The Lord God, His saints and His Torah [bear] witness, that you should fear Him, that you should not turn aside from His commandments, and that you should follow His laws with an upright heart,
[47] You shall not incline after lucre [so as] to help a godless [man in shedding] innocent blood.
[48] You shall not mix a deadly drug for any man or woman so that he [or she] should kill their fellow-man.
[49] You shall not speak of the herbs [out of which such drugs are made]. You shall not hand them over to any man,
[50] And you shall not talk about any matter [connected] with this,
[51] you shall not use blood in any work of medicine,
[52] You shall not attempt to provoke an ailment in a human soul through [the use of] iron instruments or searing with fire before making an examination two or three times; then [only] should you give your advice.*
[53] You shall not be ruled - your eyes and your heart being lifted up - by a haughty spirit.
[54] Do not keep [in your hearts] the vindictiveness of hatred with regard to a sick man,
[55] You shall not change your words in anything,
[56] The Lord our God hates [?] [this?] being done,
[57] But keep His orders and commandments, and follow all His ways, in order to please Him, [and] to be pure, true and upright.
[58] Thus did Asaph and Yohanan exhort and adjure their pupils.