so help me

Idioms and Phrases

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.”