"By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD" (Genesis 22:16): modern readers think God swore while alone, not that he swore on his own authority.

After Abraham doesn't withhold Isaac, God tells him, "By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD" (Genesis 22:16). A modern reader hears "by myself" as "alone, with no one else around," as if the point is where God happened to be standing. That's not it. This is an ancient oath formula: you swear by something greater than yourself as a guarantee of the promise. Since nothing outranks God, he swears by his own name and existence instead. Hebrews 6:13 spells this out directly, saying God did this "because he could swear by no greater."

So "by myself" here means something like "on my own authority" or "in my own name"; it's about the source backing the oath, not about solitude.