Exodus 21:17

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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וּמְקַלֵּ֥ל

qâlal

H7043

“and · being light”

Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 82× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 8:8

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2028

to be slight, be swift, be trifling, be of little account, be light - (Qal) - to be slight, be abated (of water) - to be swift - to be trifling, be of little account - (Niphal) - to be swift, show oneself swift - to appear trifling, be too trifling, be insignificant - to be lightly esteemed - (Piel) - to make despicable - to curse - (Pual) to be cursed - (Hiphil) - to make light, lighten - to treat with contempt, bring contempt or dishonour - (Pilpel) - to shake - to whet - (Hithpalpel) to shake oneself, be moved to and fro

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 →

5: words
4: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns

Verb forms

וּמְקַלֵּ֥ל Piel · Participle Active
מ֥וֹת Qal · Infinitive Absolute
יוּמָֽת Hophal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

מ֥וֹת to die H4191 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 14 words from the Hebrew and 26 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

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.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Exodus 21:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or his mother, His lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.
Mark 7:10–11 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother;' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'
Deuteronomy 27:16 Cursed be he who sets light by his father or his mother. All the people shall say, Amen.
Matthew 15:3–6 He answered them, "Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?
Leviticus 20:9–10 "'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 There is a generation that curses their father, And doesn't bless their mother.
Proverbs 30:17 The eye that mocks at his father, And scorns obedience to his mother: The ravens of the valley shall pick it out, The young eagles shall eat it.

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.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 26 words vs World English Bible 14. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

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

Hebrew Exodus 21:17 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וּמְקַלֵּ֥ל אָבִ֛יו וְאִמּ֖וֹ מ֥וֹת יוּמָֽת

"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Exodus 21:17 Septuagint · lemma form

ὅς ἐάν κλέπτω τίς τις ὁ υἱός ἰσραήλ καί καταδυναστεύω αὐτός ἀποδίδωμι καί εὑρίσκω ἐν αὐτός θάνατος τελευτάω

Whosoever shall steal one of the children of Israel, and prevail over him and sell him, and he be found with him, let him certainly die.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 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)

וְדִיְלוּט אֲבוּהִי וְאִמֵהּ אִתְקְטָלָא יִתְקְטֵל:

(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)

וּדְיֵילוּט לְאָבוּי וּלְאִימֵיהּ בִּשְׁמָא מְפַרְשָׁא אִתְקְטָלָא יִתְקְטֵיל בְּאַטְלוּת אַבְנִין

And he who curseth his father or his mother by the Great Name, dying he shall die by being stoned with stones.

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 Exodus 21:17 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 →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Exo 21:17 And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

Ver. 17. And he that curseth.] {See Trapp on "Exo 21:15"} {See Trapp on "Mat 15:4"} {a}

{a} Immane verbum est ultio. - Seneca.

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.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

21:17 Anyone who dishonors: See study note on Lev 20:9; see also Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16; 21:18-21; Eph 6:1-4.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

17. Cursing a parent. Comp. Deu_27:16, Lev_20:9 (H): also Pro_20:20; Pro_30:17. In the LXX. this verse stands more suitably immediately after v. 15. It is cited in Mat_15:4 = Mar_7:10.

curseth] a stronger word than the maketh light of, or dishonoureth, of Deu_27:16.

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

And he that curseth his father, or his mother,.... Though he does not smite them with his hand, or with any instrument in it, yet if he smites them with his tongue, reviles and reproaches them, speaks evil of them, wishes dreadful imprecations upon them, curses them by the name explained, as the Targum of Jonathan calls it, by the name Jehovah, wishing the Lord would curse them, or that his curse might light upon them, see Pro 20:20,

shall surely be put to death; or be killed with casting stones on him, as the Targum of Jonathan, or with stoning; so Jarchi, who observes, that wherever it is said, "his blood be upon him", it is meant of stoning, as it is of the man that curses his father or his mother, Lev 20:9 which was after this manner, the place of stoning was two cubits high, to which the malefactor with his hands bound was brought; from whence one of the witnesses against him cast him down headlong, of which, if he did not die, then they took up stones and cast on him, and if he died not through them, then all Israel came and stoned him; that is, the multitude upon the spot: this verse in the Septuagint version follows Exo 21:15, with which it agrees, both respecting the same persons.

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

Curseth, or speaking injuriously. The Athenians put such in prison.

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

Or, revileth, to wit, wilfully, maliciously, obstinately, against all admonition, by comparing Deu 21:18.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

He that curseth his father, etc. Blasphemy against God, and imprecations upon parents, were the only two sins of the tongue which the law expressly required to be punished with death. (Lev_24:16) In later times analogy was held to require that "cursing the ruler of the people" (Exo_22:28) should be visited with the same penalty. (2Sa_19:22; 1Ki_2:8, 1Ki_2:9, 1Ki_2:46) The severity of the sentence indicates that in God"s sight such sins are of the deepest dye.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ומקלל אביו ואמו WHOSOEVER CURSETH HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER [SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH] — Why is this stated in this particular form? Since Scripture says, (Leviticus 20:9) “For every man who execrateth his father [or his mother shall surely be put to death]” I might say that I have here only the law that a man who curseth his father or his mother is punishable with death. Whence do I know that this is also the case if a woman curseth her father or her mother? Scripture therefore states here, “Whosoever curseth father or mother” — whosoever generally — intimating that it applies to both man and woman (Mekhilta). But if this be so why is it said, (Leviticus 20:9). “For every man who execrateth etc.”? To exclude a minor.

מות יומת SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH — by stoning. And the rule is that wherever the term “his blood is upon him “is used in connection with the death penalty, “execution by stoning” is meant. The following in the passage from which this is evident (בנין אב): (Leviticus 20:27) “they shall overwhelm them with stones: their blood is upon them” — and as regards one who curses father or mother (Leviticus 20:9), Scripture indeed uses the words דמיו בו (Mekhilta; Sanhedrin 66a).

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.

Exodus, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 5 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qâlal (“to be light”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word qâlal carries the sense “to be light.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Proverbs 20:20, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to die” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וּמְקַלֵּ֥ל» is a Piel Participle Active verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 8 words in this verse.
“to die” occurs 2× in this single verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 5 words in this verse.