arar · curse

What it means

arar (אָרַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “curse”.

Declare someone or something under punishment, deprived of blessing. It is the opposite of bless.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To place someone under God's punishment, without blessing.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To curse: to declare someone or something under punishment, cut off from good. Its most frequent form is the passive participle, “cursed”, in solemn formulas. It is the opposite of בָּרַךְ (bless); of the same root is מְאֵרָה (curse).

• The first curse: the serpent and the ground Genesis 3:14Genesis 3:17
• “Cursed {be} the man”: the curses of the law Deuteronomy 27:15Deuteronomy 28:16
• Blessing those who bless, cursing those who curse Genesis 12:3Genesis 27:29
• Asking that a people be cursed: Balaam Numbers 22:6Numbers 23:7
• “The water… that brings a curse” Numbers 5:18Numbers 5:22

Historical and cultural background

On entering the land, the Levites were to pronounce the curses of Deuteronomy 27, and to each one all the people answered “Amen” (Deuteronomy 27:15).

How we translate it

“Cursed” 23 times, “Cursed be” 21, “curse” 12. This edition's glossary sets ארר = “curse”, apart from קלל (“curse” or “treat with contempt”, H7043). In the test of jealousy (Numbers 5) the water is called “the water of bitterness that brings a curse” (6 times).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• cursed ×23
• Cursed be ×21
• curse ×12
• brings a curse ×6
• everyone who curses you ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×9
• Exodus×1
• Numbers×13
• Deuteronomy×18
• Joshua×2
• Judges×4
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Jeremiah×6
• Malachi×4

• Genesis 3:14

  And YHWH Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you from among all the livestock and from among every animal of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• Genesis 4:11

  And now, cursed are you away from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

• Genesis 5:29

  And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will comfort us from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground that YHWH has cursed.”

• Genesis 9:25

  And he said, “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves he will be to his brothers.”

• Genesis 12:3

  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who treats you with contempt I will curse; and in you all the families of the ground will be blessed.”

• Genesis 27:29

  May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”

• Genesis 49:7

  Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

• Exodus 22:28

  You shall not treat Elohim with contempt, nor curse a chief among your people.

• Numbers 5:18

  And the priest shall set the woman before YHWH and let loose the hair of the head of the woman and put on her palms the grain offering of memorial, which is the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest shall be the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

• Numbers 5:19

  And the priest shall make her swear and say to the woman, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness while under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse.

• Numbers 5:22

  may this water that brings a curse go into your bowels to make the belly swell and the thigh sag.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, amen.’

• Numbers 5:24

  And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse shall enter into her to become bitter.

• Numbers 5:27

  When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be that if she has made herself unclean and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse shall enter into her to become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh sag, and the woman shall become an imprecation among her people.

• Numbers 22:6

  And now, come, please, curse this people for me, for they are mightier than I. Perhaps I will be able to strike them and drive them out of the land; for I know that whom you bless is blessed, and whom you curse is cursed.”

• Numbers 22:12

  And Elohim said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”

• Numbers 23:7

  And he took up his poem and said, “From Aram Balak, the king of Moab, has brought me, from the mountains of the east: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, denounce Israel!’

• Numbers 24:9

  He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like a lioness; who will rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, and cursed is everyone who curses you.”

• Deuteronomy 27:15

  ‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved image or a cast image, an abomination to YHWH, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:16

  ‘Cursed be he who treats with contempt his father and his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:17

  ‘Cursed be he who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:18

  ‘Cursed be he who misleads a blind man on the way.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:19

  ‘Cursed be he who perverts the justice due the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:20

  ‘Cursed be he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered the edge of the garment of his father.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:21

  ‘Cursed be he who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:22

  ‘Cursed be he who lies with his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:23

  ‘Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:24

  ‘Cursed be he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:25

  ‘Cursed be he who takes a bribe to strike down a person, innocent blood.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• Deuteronomy 27:26

  ‘Cursed be he who does not confirm the words of this instruction by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

• Deuteronomy 28:16

  Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.

• Deuteronomy 28:17

  Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

• Deuteronomy 28:18

  Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the offspring of your herds and the young of your flock.

• Deuteronomy 28:19

  Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.

• Joshua 6:26

  Joshua made them swear at that time, saying, “Cursed before YHWH be the man who rises up and builds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn he shall lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he shall set up its gates.”

• Joshua 9:23

  Now you are cursed, and there shall not be cut off from among you slaves, and cutters of wood and drawers of water for the house of my Elohim.”

• Judges 5:23

  ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of YHWH, ‘surely curse its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of YHWH, to the help of YHWH against the mighty men.’

• Judges 21:18

  But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, ‘Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.’”

• 1 Samuel 14:24

  The men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, and Saul put the people under an imprecation, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats bread until the evening, and until I have avenged myself on my enemies.” And none of the people tasted bread.

• 1 Samuel 14:28

  A man of the people answered and said, “Your father solemnly put the people under oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats bread today.’” And the people were exhausted.

And 23 more times.