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Bible Dictionaries
Curse, Cursing, Cursed, Accursed
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words
or in its most usual meaning, "a malediction, cursing" (its other meaning is "a prayer"), is used in Romans 3:14 (often in the Sept.).
kata, "down," intensive, and No. 1, denotes an "execration, imprecation, curse," uttered out of malevolence, James 3:10; 2 Peter 2:14; or pronounced by God in His righteous judgment, as upon a land doomed to barrenness, Hebrews 6:8; upon those who seek for justification by obedience, in part or completely, to the Law, Galatians 3:10,13; in this 13th verse it is used concretely of Christ, as having "become a curse" for us, i.e., by voluntarily undergoing on the Cross the appointed penalty of the "curse." He thus was identified, on our behalf, with the doom of sin. Here, not the verb in the Sept. of Deuteronomy 21:23 is used (see B, No. 3), but the concrete noun.
transliterated from the Greek, is frequently used in the Sept., where it translates the Heb. cherem, "a thing devoted to God," whether (a) for His service, as the sacrifices, Leviticus 27:28 (cp. anathema, a votive offering, gift), or (b) for its destruction, as an idol, Deuteronomy 7:26 , or a city, Joshua 6:17 . Later it acquired the more general meaning of "the disfavor of Jehovah," e.g., Zechariah 14:11 . This is the meaning in the NT. It is used of (a) the sentence pronounced, Acts 23:14 (lit., "cursed themselves with a curse;" see anathematizo below); (b) of the object on which the "curse" is laid, "accursed;" in the following, the RV keeps to the word "anathema," Romans 9:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 16:22; Galatians 1:8,9 , all of which the AV renders by "accursed" except 1 Corinthians 16:22 , where it has "Anathema." In Galatians 1:8-9 , the Apostle declares in the strongest manner that the Gospel he preached was the one and only way of salvation, and that to preach another was to nullify the Death of Christ.
or, as in some mss., the longer form katanathema, is stronger than No. 3 (kata, intensive), and denotes, by metonymy, "an accursed thing" (the object cursed being put for the curse pronounced), Revelation 22:3 .
akin to No. 3, signifies "to declare anathema," i.e., "devoted to destruction, accursed, to curse," Mark 14:71 , or "to bind by a curse," Acts 23:12,14,21 .
a strengthened form of No. 1, denotes "to utter curses against," Matthew 26:74; cp. Mark's word concerning the same occasion (No. 1).
akin to A, No. 2, primarily signifies "to pray against, to wish evil against a person or thing," hence "to curse," Matthew 25:41; Mark 11:21; Luke 6:28; Romans 12:14; James 3:9 . Some mss. have it in Matthew 5:44 .
"to speak evil" (kakos, "evil," lego, "to speak"), is translated by the verb "to curse" in Matthew 15:4; Mark 7:10 , "to speak evil of father and mother," not necessarily "to curse," is what the Lord intended (RV). AV and RV have the verb "to speak evil" in Mark 9:39; Acts 19:9 . See EVIL.
cursed, accursed" (epi, "upon," and A, No. 2), is used in Galatians 3:10,13 .
"accursed," is found, in the best mss., in John 7:49 , RV, "accursed," instead of No. 1.
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Curse, Cursing, Cursed, Accursed'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/c/curse-cursing-cursed-accursed.html. 1940.
