StrongerBible

qelalah

קְלָלָה

HebrewH7045curse, cursing

Appears 33 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 27:12Gen 27:13Deu 11:26Deu 11:28Deu 11:29Deu 21:23Deu 23:5(6)Deu 27:13Deu 28:15Deu 28:45Deu 29:27(26)Deu 30:1Deu 30:19Jos 8:34Jdg 9:572Sa 16:121Ki 2:82Ki 22:19Neh 13:2Psa 109:17Psa 109:18Pro 26:2Pro 27:14Jer 24:9Jer 25:18Jer 26:6Jer 29:22Jer 42:18
Root family
Word studykeh-lah-LAHnoun

What qelalah means

a curse: words that call down harm, the doom they bring, and the disgrace of becoming a byword

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the plain noun for a curse, the mirror opposite of a blessing. It covers the whole arc of cursing: the spoken words that invoke harm on someone, the ruin those words are meant to produce, and the lasting shame of a person or place whose downfall is so complete that their name becomes a stock example others use when they wish evil on an enemy.

The three senses are one idea seen at three stages. A malediction is uttered; if it lands, its victim comes under the doom it named; and in the worst case that victim ends up a public byword, the very picture of a cursed life. Scripture moves easily among these shades, most famously in Deuteronomy, where the blessing and the curse are laid side by side as the two possible outcomes of the covenant.

The word grows from a root meaning to be light or of little weight, so at bottom to curse someone is to treat them as slight, to wish them reduced and belittled. That is the flavor to keep in mind: not a magic spell, but a weighty spoken verdict that lowers its target.

Nuances

1aa spoken malediction: words that call down harm on a person
Gen 27:12Gen 27:13Deu 21:23Deu 23:5(6)Jdg 9:572Sa 16:121Ki 2:8Neh 13:2Psa 109:17Psa 109:18Pro 26:2Pro 27:14
1bthe covenant curse: the doom decreed for disobedience, set opposite the blessing
Deu 11:26Deu 11:28Deu 11:29Deu 27:13Deu 28:15Deu 28:45Deu 29:27(26)Deu 30:1Deu 30:19Jos 8:34
1ca byword: a person or place whose ruin makes their name a standing example used in cursing others
2Ki 22:19Jer 24:9Jer 25:18Jer 26:6Jer 29:22Jer 42:18Jer 44:8Jer 44:12Jer 44:22Jer 49:13Zec 8:13

What scholars say about qelalah

The noun קְלָלָה derives from the root קלל, whose base sense is to be light or of little account; to curse is thus to declare someone diminished, the semantic inverse of בְּרָכָה "blessing", with which qelalah is paired programmatically in the Deuteronomic covenant (Deut 11; 27-30; Josh 8). Standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) recognize a spread from the pronounced malediction to its effected doom, and a distinct idiomatic usage "to become a קְלָלָה", i.e. an object or formula of imprecation, concentrated in Jeremiah (24:9; 25:18; 42:18; 44:8-22; 49:13), 2 Kings 22:19, and Zech 8:13. Scharbert's TDOT article on קלל treats the term within the broader vocabulary of malediction, distinguishing it from the withering מְאֵרָה, the oath-bound אָלָה, and the solemn declarative ארר. Brichto's monograph on the problem of curse in the Hebrew Bible argues against a magical, self-executing conception, reading these terms as performative speech whose efficacy is bound to the moral and covenantal order rather than to occult power.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. קְלָלָהlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. קְלָלָהlexicon
  • J. Scharbert, "קלל qll," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. XIIIdictionary
  • H. C. Brichto, The Problem of "Curse" in the Hebrew Bible, JBL Monograph Series 13 (1963)monograph

All attested forms of קְלָלָה

f s absolute

קְלָלָה, קְּלָלָה

Gen 27:12, Deu 11:26, 1Ki 2:8, 2Ki 22:19, Psa 109:17, Psa 109:18, Pro 27:14, Jer 24:9

f s construct

קִלְלַת, קִלֲלַת

Deu 21:23, Pro 26:2, Jdg 9:57

f p absolute

קְּלָלוֹת

Deu 28:15, Deu 28:45

f s construct

קִלְלָתְךָ

Gen 27:13

f s construct

קִלְלָתוֹ

2Sa 16:12