Other Books By Frank Peretti

Piercing the Darkness

This Present Darkness

The Visitation

Hangman’s Curse (Veritas Project #1)

Nightmare Academy (Veritas Project #2)

Monster

FRANK PERETTI

© 1995, 2003 by Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peretti, Frank
  The oath / Frank Peretti.
  p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59554-045-4 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-59554-119-2 (Trade Paper)
1. Dragons—Fiction. I. Title.
ps3566.e691317027 1995
813'.54—dc20 95–14508

Printed in the United States of America
08 09 10 11 12 QW 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

To Dan, Mike, Chaz, & Dave,

You know what? It’s been great doing
things that make sense—basically. Moses only had
two guys to hold up his arms—I’ve had four.
Thanks, guys.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

So much in today’s world is disposable. From fast food to fast news. Even more so with our entertainment options.

People can’t wait to see the “can’t miss” movie—then forget it by the next day. Music that’s hot one week is outdated the next. The New York Times best-selling novel is soon on the bookstore’s discount table at 80 percent off collecting dust.

When a novel is being read and celebrated ten years after its release, you know it is unique. The Oath is such a novel.

First published in 1995, The Oath was a major international publishing event from day one. In fact, it made the bestseller list prior to its release through an innovative pre-sale campaign in Christian bookstores across the nation. Countless readers were riveted by the story of a deep secret that was destroying a small mining town. Throw in an invisible enemy with an unquenchable desire to devour all within its path and sin so real that it turns people’s hearts an oozing black—and you can see why the story would keep people turning pages long into the night. But The Oath is far more than just a fast-paced adventure. The story skillfully shows the devastating power of sin in a manner most readers have never seen before. Sin has become a word that our culture rarely uses anymore . . . a word to avoid ...