Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 27:17
‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses pronounces this curse to the assembled Israelites as part of a covenant ratification sequence, positioned directly between warnings against dishonoring parents and exploiting the vulnerable.
The words — The Hebrew מַסִּ֖יג (ma.Sig) describes one who physically displaces a גְּב֣וּל (ge.Vul), the boundary stone marking inherited land. The people respond with אָמֵֽן (a.Men), a formal communal affirmation of the declared curse.
The thread — The text explicitly forbids moving boundary markers in Deuteronomy 19:14, Proverbs 22:28, and Proverbs 23:10, consistently linking land boundaries to ancestral inheritance and divine protection.
Why it lands — The passage commands a public corporate response to property theft, establishing land boundaries as a fixed covenant standard that requires collective accountability rather than private settlement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 19:14 You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker, which was set up by your ancestors to mark the inheritance you shall receive in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
- Proverbs 22:28 Do not move an ancient boundary stone which your fathers have placed.
- Proverbs 23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,