Keluaran 22:28

22:28 “You must not blaspheme ¹  God ²  or curse the ruler of your people.

Keluaran 22:1

Laws about Property

22:1 ³ (21:37) ⁴  “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back ⁵  five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. ⁶ 

1 Samuel 17:43

17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you are coming after me with sticks?” ⁷  Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

Mazmur 69:26

69:26 For they harass ⁸  the one whom you discipline; ⁹ 

they spread the news about the suffering of those whom you punish. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 109:16-19

109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; ¹¹ 

he harassed the oppressed and needy,

and killed the disheartened. ¹² 

109:17 He loved to curse ¹³  others, so those curses have come upon him. ¹⁴ 

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. ¹⁵ 

109:18 He made cursing a way of life, ¹⁶ 

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil. ¹⁷ 

109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, ¹⁸ 

or a belt ¹⁹  one wears continually!

Mazmur 109:28

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ²⁰ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ²¹ 

but your servant will rejoice.

Amsal 26:2

26:2 Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow,

so a curse without cause ²²  does not come to rest. ²³ 

Pengkhotbah 10:20

10:20 Do not curse a king even in your thoughts,

and do not curse the rich ²⁴  while in your bedroom; ²⁵ 

for a bird ²⁶  might report what you are thinking, ²⁷ 

or some winged creature ²⁸  might repeat your ²⁹  words. ³⁰ 

Yesaya 8:21

8:21 They will pass through the land ³¹  destitute and starving. Their hunger will make them angry, ³²  and they will curse their king and their God ³³  as they look upward.

Matius 5:11-12

5:11 “Blessed are you when people ³⁴  insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely ³⁵  on account of me. 5:12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

[22:28]  ¹ tn The two verbs in this verse are synonyms: קָלַל (qalal) means “to treat lightly, curse,” and אָרַר (’arar) means “to curse.”

[22:28]  ² tn The word אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is “gods” or “God.” If taken as the simple plural, it could refer to the human judges, as it has in the section of laws; this would match the parallelism in the verse. If it was taken to refer to God, then the idea of cursing God would be more along the line of blasphemy. B. Jacob says that the word refers to functioning judges, and that would indirectly mean God, for they represented the religious authority, and the prince the civil authority (Exodus, 708).

[22:1]  ³ sn The next section of laws concerns property rights. These laws protected property from thieves and oppressors, but also set limits to retribution. The message could be: God’s laws demand that the guilty make restitution for their crimes against property and that the innocent be exonerated.

[22:1]  ⁴ sn Beginning with 22:1, the verse numbers through 22:31 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:1 ET = 21:37 HT, 22:2 ET = 22:1 HT, etc., through 22:31 ET = 22:30 HT. Thus in the English Bible ch. 22 has 31 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 30 verses, with the one extra verse attached to ch. 21 in the Hebrew Bible.

[22:1]  ⁵ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of obligatory imperfect – he must pay back.

[22:1]  ⁶ tn בָּקַר (baqar) and צֹאן (tso’n) are the categories to which the ox and the sheep belonged, so that the criminal had some latitude in paying back animals.

[17:43]  ⁷ sn Sticks is a pejorative reference to David’s staff (v. 40); the same Hebrew word (מַקֵּל, maqqel) is used for both.

[69:26]  ⁸ tn Or “persecute”; Heb “chase.”

[69:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “for you, the one whom you strike, they chase.”

[69:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they announce the pain of your wounded ones” (i.e., “the ones whom you wounded,” as the parallel line makes clear).

[69:26]  sn The psalmist is innocent of the false charges made by his enemies (v. 4), but he is also aware of his sinfulness (v. 5) and admits that he experiences divine discipline (v. 26) despite his devotion to God (v. 9). Here he laments that his enemies take advantage of such divine discipline by harassing and slandering him. They “kick him while he’s down,” as the expression goes.

[109:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

[109:16]  ¹² tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”

[109:17]  ¹³ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

[109:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

[109:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

[109:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

[109:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”

[109:19]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.

[109:28]  ²⁰ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ²¹ tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.

[26:2]  ²² tn Heb “causeless curse” (KJV similar) describes an undeserved curse (cf. NIV, NRSV). The Hebrew word translated “causeless” is the adverb from ָחנַן (khanan); it means “without cause; gratuitous.”

[26:2]  sn This proverb is saying that a curse that is uttered will be powerless if that curse is undeserved. It was commonly believed in the ancient world that blessings and curses had power in themselves, that once spoken they were effectual. But scripture makes it clear that the power of a blessing or a curse depends on the power of the one behind it (e.g., Num 22:38; 23:8). A curse would only take effect if the one who declared it had the authority to do so, and he would only do that if the curse was deserved.

[26:2]  ²³ tc The MT has the negative with the verb “to enter; to come” to mean “will not come” (לֹא תָבֹא, lo’ tavo’). This is interpreted to mean “will not come to rest” or “will not come home.” Some commentators have taken the Qere reading of לוֹ (lo) instead, and read it as “will come home to him.” This is also a little difficult; but it gives the idea that an undeserved curse will come [back] to him [who gave it]. Just as a bird will fly around and eventually come home, so will the undeserved curse return on the one who gave it. This is plausible; but there is no referent for the suffix, making it syntactically difficult.

[10:20]  ²⁴ tn Perhaps the referent is people who are in authority because of their wealth.

[10:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in chambers of your bedroom.”

[10:20]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a bird of the air.”

[10:20]  ²⁷ tn Heb “might carry the voice.” The article is used here with the force of a possessive pronoun.

[10:20]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew phrase בַּעַל הַכְּנָפַיִם (ba’al hakkÿnafayim, “possessor of wings”) is an idiom for a winged creature, that is, a bird (e.g., Prov 1:17; see HALOT 143 s.v. בַּעַל A.6; BDB 127 s.v. בַּעַל 5.a). The term בַּעַל (“master; possessor”) is the construct governing the attributive genitive הַכְּנָפַיִם (“wings”); see IBHS 149-51 §9.5.3b.

[10:20]  ²⁹ tn The term “your” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness.

[10:20]  ³⁰ tn Heb “tell the matter.”

[8:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “he will pass through it.” The subject of the collective singular verb is the nation. (See the preceding note.) The immediately preceding context supplies no antecedent for “it” (a third feminine singular suffix in the Hebrew text); the suffix may refer to the land, which would be a reasonable referent with a verb of motion. Note also that אֶרֶץ (’erets, “land”) does appear at the beginning of the next verse.

[8:21]  ³² tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[8:21]  ³³ tn Or “gods” (NAB, NRSV, CEV).

[5:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “when they insult you.” The third person pronoun (here implied in the verb ὀνειδίσωσιν [ojneidiswsin]) has no specific referent, but refers to people in general.

[5:11]  ³⁵ tc Although ψευδόμενοι (yeudomenoi, “bearing witness falsely”) could be a motivated reading, clarifying that the disciples are unjustly persecuted, its lack in only D it sy^s Tert does not help its case. Since the Western text is known for numerous free alterations, without corroborative evidence the shorter reading must be judged as secondary.