Bible Strands
Leviticus 20:9
If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the covenant community through Moses, positioning this decree among other capital statutes in Leviticus 20. The command functions as a judicial boundary marker within a chapter that defines Israel’s separation from surrounding nations.
The words — The Hebrew verb יְקַלֵּל (yeqallel) literally means “to treat as light” or “to curse,” defining the prohibited act. The phrase דָּמוֹ בּוֹ (damo bo) translates to “his blood is upon him,” indicating direct personal liability for the executed penalty.
The thread — This prohibition repeats the capital penalty found in Exodus 21:17 and appears in the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 27:16. Jesus later cites the passage in Mark 7:10 as established Mosaic law regarding parental honor.
Why it lands — The text states that cursing parents incurs death and places the guilt on the offender before noting that God sanctifies His people. Readers must treat the command as a binding standard for communal order and recognize that violating foundational authority carries irreversible judicial consequences.
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
For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
Cross-references
- Exodus 21:17 Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
- Mark 7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Deuteronomy 27:16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Matthew 15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- Proverbs 30:17 As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
- 2 Samuel 1:16 For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
- Proverbs 30:11 There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
- Judges 9:24 in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him murder his brothers.
- Leviticus 20:11 If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.