Deuteronomy 27:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Cursed be he who sets light by his father or his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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מַקְלֶ֥ה

qâlâh

H7034

“disgracing”

Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Deuteronomy 25:3

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2024

to disgrace, dishonour, be lightly esteemed, be dishonoured, be despised - (Niphal) to be dishonoured, be despised, be lightly esteemed - (Hiphil) to treat with contempt, dishonour, treat shamefully

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
8: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is מַקְלֶ֥ה to disgrace H7034 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מַקְלֶ֥ה to disgrace H7034 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
1 adverb

Verb forms

אָר֕וּר Qal · Participle Passive
מַקְלֶ֥ה Hiphil · Participle Active
וְאָמַ֥ר Qal · Sequential Perfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 14 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 27:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 19:3 "'Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
Exodus 21:17 "Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Deuteronomy 21:18–21 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not listen to them;
Leviticus 20:9 "'For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
Proverbs 30:11–17 There is a generation that curses their father, And doesn't bless their mother.
Ezekiel 22:7 In you have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the foreigner; in you have they wronged the fatherless and the widow.
Matthew 15:4–6 For God commanded, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 27:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אָר֕וּר מַקְלֶ֥ה אָבִ֖יו וְאִמּ֑וֹ וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן

Cursed be he who sets light by his father or his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 27:16 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐπικατάρατος ὁ ἀτιμάζω πατήρ αὐτός ἤ μήτηρ αὐτός καί εἶπον πᾶς ὁ λαός γίγνομαι

Cursed is the man that dishonors his father or his mother: and all the people shall say, So be it.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לִיטּ דְיִקְלֵי אֲבוּהִי וְאִמֵהּ וְיֵימַר כָּל עַמָא אָמֵן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לִיט דִמְזַלְזֵל אִיקְרָא דְאָבוֹי וּדְאִמֵיהּ עַנְיַין כּוּלְהוֹן כַּחֲדָא וְאָמְרִין אָמֵן

Accursed is he who contemneth the honour of his father or his mother. And all of them shall answer together, and say, Amen.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 27:16 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Cursed be he that setteth light.—The first curse points to the first two commandments of the first table, and the second to the first commandment in the second table. If we mark off the first offence specified, secret idolatry—the only one which distinctly recalls the first commandment of the Law, and also the last general curse which embraces all transgression whatever, the intervening offences seem more easily arranged. We have duty to parents enforced (Deu_27:16) and the rights of neighbours (Deu_5:17), the blind (Deu_27:18), and the unprotected (Deu_27:19) come next. The next four precepts are all concerned with purity, first in the nearer, afterwards in the more distant relations (Deu_27:20-23). The last two precepts concern slander and treachery (Deu_27:24-25). Evidently the offences specified are examples of whole classes of actions; and the twelve curses may have some reference to the number of the tribes.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 27:16 Cursed [be] he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Ver. 16. That setteth light.] That despises, undervalues, not only that curses, as Exo 21:17.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 27:16. That setteth light — Or despiseth in his heart; or reproacheth or curseth secretly: for if the fact were notorious, it was punished with death.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

27:16 dishonors father or mother: In the various spheres of human relationships, duty to parents ranked just below duty to God (see 5:16). To disrespect and disobey parents was just short of disrespecting God.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, contemneth: and this appertaineth to the second Table.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 16. Setteth light by his father or his mother.] See Clarke on Ex 20:12.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

16. Cp. Deu_5:16, Deu_21:18 ff.; E, Exo_20:11; Exo_21:17; H, Lev_20:9. Setteth light by or dishonoureth, the opposite of honour, Deu_5:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Cursed be he that setteth light by his father, or his mother,.... That secretly despises them in his heart, and by looks and gestures mocks at them in a private manner, unseen by others, Pro 30:17; for if he publicly cursed them, that was cognizable by the civil magistrate, and he was to be put to death, Lev 20:9. This follows next, as in the order of the ten commands, to that which respects the fear and worship of God; honouring parents being next to the glorifying of God, the Father of all:

and all the people shall say Amen; applaud the righteous sentence, saying, "so let it be".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Honoureth not. Hebrew, "curseth." Septuagint, "despiseth." See Leviticus xx. 9. --- "Exodus xxi. 17., Moses proclaimed, He that curseth his father or (Hebrew and) mother, shall die the death." But here he goes still farther and denounces a curse on those who make light of (Hebrew makle, vilipendit) their parents; or, as Denis the Carthusian expresses it not amiss, on him "who does not honour, by shewing them obedience in due time, or by not relieving their wants as far as possible; and chiefly, if instead of honouring, he curses and uses opprobrious language towards them." "I have made this remark, says Amama, (p. 376,) "in order to admonish the Germans and the Dutch that this passage has been translated by Luther with too great carelessness, curseth, as if the same Hebrew word, kalal, were here used as in the text of Exodus. But those who are not too brazen, will confess that the Hebrew text, and the more accurate versions, require greater reverence to be shewn to parents. Etiam illi judicabunt qui nondum ære lavantur." This author, in his animadversions upon the Vulgate, often takes occasion to mention the blunders "of B. Luther," as well as of the Septuagint and other interpreters; for he seems to be satisfied with no version which has hitherto been published. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Setteth light; or, despiseth in his heart; or reproacheth or curseth, to wit, secretly, as before; for if the fact was notorious, it was punished with death, Lev 20:9.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

cf. Exo_21:17

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Light - Or, despiseth in his heart: or reproacheth or curseth, secretly: for if the fact was notorious, it was punished with death.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

Moses continues telling the Levites and the people what they must say.

May the man be cursed

This may be stated in active form. AT: "May Yahweh curse the man" (See: Active or Passive)

who removes his neighbor's landmark

The full meaning of the statement can be made explicit. AT: "who takes land away from his neighbor by moving the markers on the borders of his land" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

curse

dishonor

ancestor

people of God

amen

neighbor

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

מקלה means, “making light of”, it has the same meaning as (Deuteronomy 25:3) “Lest … thy brother become despicable (נקלה).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 8 words (8 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qâlâh (“to disgrace”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word qâlâh carries the sense “to disgrace.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Deuteronomy 25:3, which shares the word «to disgrace», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«אָר֕וּר» is a Qal Participle Passive verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and Trapp's Complete Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 14 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.