Deuteronomy 27:18

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה

shâgâh

H7686

“erring”

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

Appears 21× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 4:13

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2325

to go astray, stray, err - (Qal) - to err, stray - to swerve, meander, reel, roll, be intoxicated, err (in drunkenness) - to go astray (morally) - to commit sin of ignorance or inadvertence, err (ignorantly) - (Hiphil) - to lead astray - to lead astray, mislead (mentally) - to lead astray (morally)

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 מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה to err H7686 — appearing just 21 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה to err H7686 occurs in 19 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
1 adjective
1 adverb

Verb forms

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

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 19 words from the Hebrew and 21 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 12 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 27:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 19:14 "'You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
Proverbs 28:10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, He will fall into his own trap; But the blameless will inherit good.
Matthew 15:14 Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit."
Job 29:15 I was eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame.
Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can't bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.

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 27:18 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אָר֕וּר מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה עִוֵּ֖ר בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן

Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 27:18 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐπικατάρατος ὁ πλανάω τυφλός ἐν ὁδός καί εἶπον πᾶς ὁ λαός γίγνομαι

Cursed is he that makes the blind to wander in the way: and all the people shall say, So be it.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

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)

לִיט דְיַטְעֵי עַוִירָא בְּאָרְחָא 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 דְיִטְעֵי אַכְסַנְיָא בְּאוֹרְחָא דְהוּא מְדַמֵי לְסַמְיָא הֲווֹן עַנְיַין כֻּלְהוֹן כַּחֲדָא וְאָמְרִין אָמֵן

Accursed is he who causeth the pilgrim, who is like the blind, to wander from the way. 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 27:18 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 →

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 27:18. Out of the way — That misleadeth simple souls, giving them pernicious counsel, either for this life, or for the next.

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

27:18 blind person: This curse would apply to treatment of physically disabled or disadvantaged people in general. Such a mean and callous act was not fitting of a member of the covenant community, in which all were to be treated alike.

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

Meaning, that helpeth not and counselleth not his neighbor.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 18. The blind to wander out of the way.] A sin against the sixth commandment. See Clarke on Ex 20:13.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) The blind.—“He that is in the dark upon any matter, when one deceives him with evil counsel” (Rashi).

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

18. Lev_19:14 : thou shall not put a stumbling block before the blind.

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 maketh the blind to wander out of the way,.... By directing him wrong knowingly, or laying a stumbling block in his way, Lev 19:14. The Targum of Jonathan is,"that maketh a traveller wander out of the way, who like a blind man;''who knows his way no more than a blind man does. Jarchi interprets it,"that blinds in anything, and gives evil counsel;''which leads men to take wrong steps, whether in things civil, or moral, or religious; all which are usually done privately:

and all the people shall say Amen; See Gill on Deu 27:15; See Gill on Deu 27:16.

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

Blind; or, according to the Rabbins and Grotius, those who are on a journey, and do not know the road. "Cursed, said Diphilis, is the man who does not tell the right road." Those who lead the simple astray, are no less blameable, Leviticus xix. 14. (Calmet)

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

That misleadeth simple souls, giving them pernicious counsel, either for this life or for the next.

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. Lev_19:14

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

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. See how you translated this in Deuteronomy 27:16. AT: "May Yahweh curse the man" (See: Active or Passive)

uses force to take away the justice due to a foreigner ... widow

Moses speaks of justice as if it were a physical object that a stronger person can violently pull away from a weaker person. Your language might have one word that means "use force to take away." See how you translated these words in Deuteronomy 24:17. AT: "treats a foreigner ... widow unfairly" (See: Metaphor)

fatherless

These are children whose parents have both died and do not have relatives to care for them.

widow

This means a woman whose husband has died and has no children to care for her in her old age.

translationWords

just

alien

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)

משגה עור [CURSED BE] HE THAT CAUSES THE BLIND TO GO ASTRAY — This means: one who is blind (inexperienced) in a matter and one gives him bad advice (cf. Rashi on Leviticus 19:14).

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 shâgâh (“to err”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word shâgâh carries the sense “to err.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Leviticus 4:13, which shares the word «to err», read alongside this verse?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
«אָר֕וּר» is a Qal Participle Passive verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Joseph Benson's Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.