Hebrew word · H7045

קְלָלָה

kelalah

curse

A spoken curse: words calling harm down on a person, usually by invoking God or gods. It is the standard opposite of berakhah, 'blessing' (Deut 11:26; 30:1, 19). It can also mean the state of being cursed: 'a curse among the nations' (Jer 24:9).

Appears 33 times in 33 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

curse, vilification, execration

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 26:2

Range of meaning

A spoken curse: words calling harm down on a person, usually by invoking God or gods. It is the standard opposite of berakhah, 'blessing' (Deut 11:26; 30:1, 19). It comes from the root qll, 'to be light, slight, of little account.' The related verb means 'to curse', and in some forms 'to treat with contempt'. It can also mean the state of being cursed: 'a curse among the nations' (Jer 24:9).

Against the English

English 'curse' now often means profanity ('to curse and swear') or, in pop culture, a magical hex. YLT's 'reviling' catches the root's sense of belittling. Most versions keep 'curse', which is right as long as it is understood as formal words calling harm down on someone.

How it drifted

The modern sense of 'curse' as foul language developed in English. It has nothing to do with the Hebrew word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Curses on oath-breakers fill ancient Near Eastern treaties, such as the Assyrian vassal treaties of Esarhaddon, and the curse lists of Deut 27–28. Balaam was hired to curse Israel, and God 'turned the curse (qelalah) into a blessing' (Deut 23:5). Shimei's qelalah against David (1 Kgs 2:8; 2 Sam 16:5–13) shows how seriously people took a curse spoken in public.

From the study of Deuteronomy 30:1

Range of meaning

From the root qll, 'to be light, slight, of little account.' A qelalah is a curse or a condition of being belittled and ruined, the opposite of blessing. It is also the opposite of kavod, 'weight, honour.' It can mean a spoken imprecation or the disaster that results.

Against the English

'Curse' can suggest a magic spell or swearing. YLT's 'reviling' picks up the root's sense of belittling. Here the word refers to the covenant penalties: disease, drought, defeat, siege, deportation (28:15–68).

How it drifted

Folk and fantasy uses of 'curse' (hexes, jinxes) and its use for profanity shape what modern readers hear.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 11:26–29; 27:13; 28:15, 45; Gen 27:12–13; Prov 26:2. Ancient treaties such as Esarhaddon's Succession Treaty (672 BC) end with long curse lists. Several are close to Deut 28, e.g. bronze skies, iron earth and eating one's children under siege.

From the study of Deuteronomy 23:5

Range of meaning

A curse: a spoken pronouncement calling down harm, and by extension the state of being cursed. It comes from the root q-l-l, 'to be light, slight', so cursing someone is literally to 'make them light', to belittle and diminish them. It is the opposite of k-b-d, 'heavy, weighty, honoured'.

Against the English

English 'curse' now mostly means swearing, or a vague jinx or bad luck. YLT's 'reviling' catches the contemptuous, belittling side. 'Curse' in BSB/KJV/WEB is correct as long as the reader hears it as a formal, deliberate spoken act.

How it drifted

In modern English 'curse' has slid toward profanity and toward superstitious 'hexes'. A biblical-era hearer would think of a formal speech act, often performed by a specialist with ritual (Balaam builds altars and offers sacrifices, Num 23:1–2, 14, 29). It was believed to call down divine power against its target.

Used elsewhere in the period

Verse 4 uses the matching verb leqallelkha, 'to curse you'. Numbers 22–24 mostly uses the other curse verbs 'arar and qavav. The q-l-l root ties the scene to Genesis 12:3, 'the one who treats you lightly (meqallelkha) I will curse', which Balaam himself echoes in Numbers 24:9. Deuteronomy uses qelalah for the covenant's own sanctions: 'blessing and curse' (11:26–29; 28:15, 45; 30:1, 19).

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 27:12 קְלָלָ֖ה a curse

    What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

  2. Genesis 27:13 קִלְלָתְךָ֖ curse your

    His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

Deuteronomy · 11

  1. Deuteronomy 11:26 וּקְלָלָֽה׃ and a curse

    See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—

    Here: The opposite condition: a life made 'light', diminished and despised. That means drought, crop failure, defeat, disease and finally exile (28:15–68). It is the covenant's penalty, not a magic spell.

  2. Deuteronomy 11:28 וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה and the curse

    but a curse if you disobey the commandments of the LORD your God and turn aside from the path I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

  3. Deuteronomy 11:29 הַקְּלָלָ֖ה the curse

    When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

  4. Deuteronomy 21:23 קִלְלַ֥ת [is] a curse of

    you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

    Here: 'A curse of…'. The word comes from a root meaning 'light, trivial', and covers a curse, the state of being cursed, and contempt. Hebrew grammar leaves open whether the hanged man is cursed by God or is an insult against God (see debates).

  5. Deuteronomy 23:5 הַקְּלָלָ֖ה the curse

    Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you.

    Here: 'The curse': the specific spoken curse Balaam was hired to pronounce (v. 4, 'to curse you', leqallelkha). The root means 'make light, belittle', so a curse was speech meant to diminish and bring someone low.

  6. Deuteronomy 27:13 הַקְּלָלָ֖ה the curse

    And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to deliver the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

  7. Deuteronomy 28:15 הַקְּלָל֥וֹת the curses

    If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

    Here: 'The curses': the covenant penalties about to be listed in vv. 16–68. The root idea is being made light, small and worthless, the reverse of blessing.

  8. Deuteronomy 28:45 הַקְּלָל֣וֹת the curses

    All these curses will come upon you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, since you did not obey the LORD your God and keep the commandments and statutes He gave you.

  9. Deuteronomy 29:27 הַקְּלָלָ֔ה <the> curse

    Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against this land, and He brought upon it every curse written in this book.

  10. Deuteronomy 30:1 וְהַקְּלָלָ֔ה and the curse

    “When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,

    Here: 'And the curse.' It is singular and collective: the whole set of covenant penalties in 28:15–68, ending in siege and deportation.

  11. Deuteronomy 30:19 וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה and <the> curse

    I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,

    Here: 'And the curse': the specific covenant penalties of 28:15–68 (drought, disease, defeat, siege, exile). From a root meaning 'to be light, slight': being cursed is being made worthless and contemptible.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 8:34 וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה and the curse

    Afterward, Joshua read aloud all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 9:57 קִֽלֲלַ֖ת [the] curse of

    And God also brought all the wickedness of the men of Shechem back upon their own heads. So the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

    Here: A solemn spoken call for harm to fall on wrongdoers. Here it means Jotham's conditional curse in 9:19–20: fire would consume both Abimelech and Shechem if they had acted in bad faith.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 16:12 קִלְלָת֖וֹ curse his

    Perhaps the LORD will see my affliction and repay me with good for the cursing I receive today.”

    Here: "His cursing", meaning Shimei's spoken curse. It was a formal call for disaster to fall on David, together with insults meant to bring him down (vv. 7–8).

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 2:8 קְלָלָ֣ה a curse

    Keep an eye on Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 22:19 וְלִקְלָלָ֔ה and <into> a curse

    because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the LORD.

    Here: 'And a curse.' They will be so badly struck that their name becomes a curse formula, as in 'May God make you like Jerusalem.'

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 13:2 הַקְּלָלָ֖ה the curse

    because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

    Here: 'The curse': the specific curse Balaam was paid to speak. It comes from the same root as 'to curse' earlier in the verse.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 109:17 קְ֭לָלָה a curse

    The cursing that he loved, may it fall on him; the blessing in which he refused to delight, may it be far from him.

    Here: A spoken curse: words calling down harm, ruin or death on someone. In this psalm it belongs with the false accusation the enemy uses to destroy the poor man (vv. 2–3, 16). It is the subject of the next verb: the curse itself 'comes'.

  2. Psalm 109:18 קְלָלָ֗ה a curse

    The cursing that he wore like a coat, may it soak into his body like water, and into his bones like oil.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 26:2 קִֽלְלַ֥ת a curse

    Like a fluttering sparrow or darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.

    Here: 'A curse of…' This is a spoken curse: words calling harm down on someone. It is not swearing in the modern sense, and not just misfortune. The root means 'light, trifling', so cursing someone is literally treating them as worthless, the opposite of giving them weight or honor.

  2. Proverbs 27:14 קְ֝לָלָ֗ה a curse

    If one blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted to him as a curse.

    Here: 'A curse', the exact opposite of a blessing. It comes from the root qll, 'be light, slight', so a curse is speech that makes someone small or contemptible and wishes them harm. Placing it first in its clause for emphasis gives the twist: the blessing turns into its opposite.

Jeremiah · 9

  1. Jeremiah 24:9 וְלִקְלָלָ֔ה and into a curse

    I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

    Here: 'And into a curse.' Their fate becomes the model people name when they curse someone: 'May God make you like them.' Jeremiah 29:22 shows exactly this happening.

  2. Jeremiah 25:18 וְלִקְלָלָ֖ה and into a curse

    to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

    Here: Jerusalem becomes a byword in curses: people will say 'May you end up like Jerusalem.' The root idea is being made light, of no weight. This is the reverse of honour.

  3. Jeremiah 26:6 לִקְלָלָ֔ה into a curse

    then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

    Here: Jerusalem becomes the standard example of disgrace, the name people use when they curse ("May you end up like Jerusalem"). The root means "light, worthless," the opposite of the "weight" of honour and glory.

  4. Jeremiah 29:22 קְלָלָ֔ה a curse

    Because of them, all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire!’

    Here: A spoken imprecation that calls down disaster on someone. Its root idea is 'making light, belittling,' the opposite of honour; here it names a fixed formula people will say.

  5. Jeremiah 42:18 וְלִקְלָלָ֣ה and <into> a curse

    For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Just as My anger and wrath were poured out on the residents of Jerusalem, so will My wrath be poured out on you if you go to Egypt. You will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and disgrace, and you will never see this place again.’

    Here: 'And into a curse': from a root meaning 'light, slight'. It pictures being made worthless and spoken of with contempt.

  6. Jeremiah 44:8 לִקְלָלָ֣ה <into> a curse

    Why are you provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to reside? As a result, you will be cut off and will become an object of cursing and reproach among all the nations of the earth.

    Here: 'Into a curse.' They will become a name used in curses, a picture of the worst fate ('May you end up like the Judeans in Egypt'). The word does not mean a magic spell on them.

  7. Jeremiah 44:12 וְלִקְלָלָ֖ה and <into> a curse

    And I will take away the remnant of Judah who have resolved to go to the land of Egypt to reside there; they will meet their end. They will all fall by the sword or be consumed by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword or famine; and they will become an object of cursing and horror, of vilification and reproach.

    Here: From a root meaning 'light, trivial.' To be made a qelalah is to be treated as worthless, a byword in other people's curses. It is the opposite of honour, which in Hebrew is 'weight' (kavod).

  8. Jeremiah 44:22 וְלִקְלָלָ֛ה and <into> a curse

    So the LORD could no longer endure the evil deeds and detestable acts you committed, and your land became a desolation, a horror, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as it is this day.

    Here: 'And into a curse.' The land's fate becomes a standard example people use when cursing: 'may you end up like Judah.' Compare Jer 29:22.

  9. Jeremiah 49:13 וְלִקְלָלָ֖ה and <into> a curse

    For by Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a desolation, a disgrace, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be in ruins forever.”

    Here: Bozrah becomes a byword for a curse. Its name will be used when people call down disaster: "May you end up like Bozrah."

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 8:13 קְלָלָ֜ה a curse

    As you have been a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

    Here: Not that Judah cast curses. Judah had become the stock example of ruin, the name people used when cursing ("may you end up like Judah"). The root carries the idea of being made light and contemptible.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.