Deuteronomy 27:24

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor in secret. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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אָמֵֽן

ʼâmên

H543

“truly”

Adverb

Appears 30× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 5:22

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H539

TWOT: 116b

verily, truly, amen, so be it

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

Shared distinctive vocabulary

אָמֵֽן truly H543 occurs in 24 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
1 adverb

Verb forms

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

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 15 words from the Hebrew and 17 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 13 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 27:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Numbers 35:31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 24:17 "'He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder.
Exodus 21:12–14 "One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
Deuteronomy 19:11–12 But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and strike him mortally so that he dies, and he flee into one of these cities;
2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.
2 Samuel 11:15–17 He wrote in the letter, saying, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire you from him, that he may be struck, and die.
2 Samuel 12:9–12 Why have you despised the word of Yahweh, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

2 Samuel 13:28 Absalom commanded his servants, saying, Mark you now, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, Smite Amnon, then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
2 Samuel 20:9–10 Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.

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 27:24 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

אָר֕וּר מַכֵּ֥ה רֵעֵ֖הוּ בַּסָּ֑תֶר וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן

Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor in secret. All the people shall say, Amen.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 27:24 Septuagint · lemma form

ἐπικατάρατος ὁ τύπτω ὁ πλησίον αὐτός δόλος καί εἶπον πᾶς ὁ λαός γίγνομαι

Cursed is he that smites his neighbor secretly: 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 דְיִמְחֵי לְחַבְרֵהּ בְּסִתְרָא 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 דְיִמְחֵי חַבְרֵיהּ בְּלִישַׁן תְּלִיתָאֵי בְּטוּמְרָא הֲווֹן עַנְיַין כּוּלְהוֹן כַּחֲדָא וְאָמְרִין אָמֵן

Accursed is he who attacketh his neighbour with slander in secret. And all 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 27:24 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

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 27:24 Cursed [be] he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Ver. 24. That smiteth.] Either with violent hand or virulent tongue. {Jer 28:16-17}

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 27:24. Smiteth — That is, killeth. This includes murder under the colour of the law, which is of all others the greatest affront to God. Cursed therefore is he that any way contributes to accuse, or convict, or condemn an innocent person.

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

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

For God that seeth in secret, will revenge it.

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) That smiteth his neighbour secretly.-”Spoken of a backbiting tongue” (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

24. Cp. Deu_5:17; E, Exo_20:13; Exo_21:12; H, Lev_24:17. The addition, in secret (Deu_27:15, Deu_13:6 (7), Deu_28:57), is nowhere else attached to murder.

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 smiteth his neighbour secretly,.... And kills him, and the murder is not known; the curse of God follows such, and overtakes them sooner or later. Some interpret this of smiting with the tongue, of secret backbiting and slander; so the Targum of Jonathan,"that smiteth with the third tongue;''or false accusation:

and all the people shall say Amen; as disapproving of and condemning such a practice, even slander, and especially murder.

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

Secretly, as is commonly the case; though such as committed murder in public were equally if not more guilty. (Haydock) --- Assassins, traitors, and those guilty of calumny, &c., are to be abhorred.

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

Smiteth, i.e. killeth, as that word is oft used.

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_20:13; Num_35:16, etc.

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

Smiteth - That is, killeth. This includes murder under colour of law, which is of all others the greatest affront to God. Cursed therefore is he that any ways contributes to accuse, or convict, or condemn an innocent person.

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

translationWords

neighbor

bribe

innocent

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)

מכה רעהו בסתר [CURSED BE] HE THAT SMITETH HIS FELLOW SECRETLY — It is of slander that it here speaks (slander may be termed “smiting in secret”) (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 53). — I have seen in the Work of R. Moses the Preacher; There are here eleven verses beginning with the words “cursed be” corresponding to eleven tribes. In allusion to Simeon, however, he (Moses) did not write down a formula beginning with “cursed be”, because he had no intention to bless him before his death when he blessed the other tribes (the tribe of Simeon is the only one not mentioned in chapter XXXIII. which contains the blessings that Moses bestowed on the tribes), therefore he did not want to curse him either.

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

Discussion questions

What does “truly” (ʼâmên) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Numbers 5:22 shares the word «truly» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «אָר֕וּר» is Qal Participle Passive. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 13 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
8 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.