What does the Bible say about cursing and swearing?

1563 · John Calvin, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony, part 2 Lev.24.15

And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Hence it now more clearly appears that the object of the Third Commandment was that God’s holy name should be honored with the respect and veneration which it deserves, since the insult whereby it is violated is condemned to capital punishment. By the expression “cursing,” Moses designates all profane and impure words which tend to brand it with dishonor; as if any one should accuse God either of injustice or cruelty; or should assail Him with blasphemies; or designedly detract from His glory either in anger or wantonness, since many, when exasperated, launch forth horrible blasphemies, whilst others make a parade of their audacity by scoffing at Him.

1706–1708 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Leviticus 24.10-23

The offence itself was blasphemy and cursing, v. 11. It is supposed that his cause came to be heard before the judges, who determined that he had no right to the privileges of an Israelite, his father being an Egyptian, and that, being enraged at the sentence, 1. He blasphemed the name of the Lord. He blasphemed the name, that is, he blasphemed God, who is known by his name only, not by his nature, or any similitude.

1765 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Leviticus 24.11

The name of the Lord - The words of the Lord, or of Jehovah, are supplied out of ver. 16, where they are expressed; here they are omitted perhaps for the aggravation of his crime. He blasphemed the name so called by way of eminency; that name which is above every name; that name which a man should in some sort tremble to mention; which is not to be named without cause or without reverence. And cursed - Not the Israelite only, but his God also, as appears from ver. 15, 16. And they brought him - Either the people who heard him, or the inferior magistrate, to whom he was first brought.

1765 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Leviticus 24.16

He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord - This is a repetition of the same sin in other words, which is common. As this law is laid down in general terms, ver. 15, so both the sin and the punishment are particularly expressed, ver. 16. All the congregation - To shew their zeal for God, and to beget in them the greater dread and abhorrence of blasphemy.

1871 · Robert Jamieson, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Leviticus 24.11

And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord—A youth of this half-blood, having quarrelled with an Israelite [Le 24:10], vented his rage in some horrid form of impiety. It was a common practice among the Egyptians to curse their idols when disappointed in obtaining the object of their petitions. The Egyptian mind of this youth thought the greatest insult to his opponent was to blaspheme the object of his religious reverence. He spoke disrespectfully of One who sustained the double character of the King as well as the God of the Hebrew people; as the offense was a new one, he was put in ward till the mind of the Lord was ascertained as to his disposal.

1563 · John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah, part 4 (chapters 30-47) 44.12

We have said elsewhere that the word אלה, ale, sometimes means a curse, though it properly signifies an oath; and the reason is, because men in swearing often introduce a curse, “Let God curse me,” — “Let me perish.” Then he says, that the Jews would become an example of a curse; for in making an oath this would be the common form, “Let God destroy me as he destroyed the Jews.”

1655–1662 · William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour Part 12. DIRECTION XI.—SECOND GENERAL PART. [How to perform the duty commanded—a

Take heed thou dost not make thy private particular enemies the object of thy imprecation. We have no warrant, when any wrong us, presently to go and call for fire from heaven upon them. We are bid, indeed, to heap coals upon our enemy’s head, but they are of love, not of wrath and revenge. Job sets a black brand upon this, and clears himself from the imputation of so great a sin: ‘If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,...neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul,’ Job 31:29, 30. He durst not wish his enemy ill, much less deliberately form a wish into a prayer, and desire God to curse him. Our Saviour hath taught us a more excellent way: ‘Bless them that curse you,...and pray for them which despitefully use you,’ Matt. 5:44. I know this is counted a poor sheepish spirit by many of our gallants. Go pray for them? No, send them the glove rather, and be revenged on them in a duel by shedding their blood. This is the drink-offering which these sons of pride delight to pour out to their revenge. Or, curse them to the pit of hell with their God damn them oaths! O tremble at such a spirit as this! The ready way to fetch a curse from heaven on thyself, is to imprecate one sinfully upon another.

1710 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Proverbs 26.2

Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with, right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep those about them in awe, by cursing them, and swearing at them, which yet is an expression of the most impotent malice and shows their weakness as much as their wickedness.

1793 · Jonathan Edwards, Miscellaneous Observations on Important Theological Subjects, Original and Collected 1

We cannot think that those imprecations we find in the Psalms and Prophets, were out of their own hearts; for cursing is spoken of as a very dreadful sin in the Old Testament; and David, whom we hear oftener than any other praying for vengeance on his enemies, by the history of his life, was of a spirit very remote from spiteful and revengeful.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Psalms 10.7

His mouth is full of cursing - Profaneness; blasphemy against God. In the former verse the writer had described the feelings of the "heart;" he now proceeds to specify the open acts of the wicked. The meaning is, that the wicked man, as here described, was one who was full of imprecation, swearing, execration; a "profane" man; a man who, whatever was his belief about God, would constantly call upon his name, and imprecate his wrath on himself or others.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Romans 3.14

Whose mouth - Psa 10:7. The apostle has not quoted this literally, but has given the sense. David in the psalm is describing his bitter enemies. Cursing - Reproachful and opprobrious language, such as Shimei used in relation to David; 2Sa 16:5, 2Sa 16:7-8.

1860–1870 · Edward Bouverie Pusey, Notes on the Bible: Hosea 4.2

By swearing, and lying ... - Literally, "swearing or cursing" , "and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery!" The words in Hebrew are nouns of action. The Hebrew form is very vivid and solemn. It is far more forcible than if he had said, "They swear, lie, kill, and steal." It expresses that these sins were continual, that nothing else (so to speak) was going on; that it was all one scene of such sins, one course of them, and of nothing besides; as we say more familiarly, "It was all, swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery." It is as if the prophet, seeing with a sight above nature, a vision from God, saw, as in a picture, what was going on, all around, within and without, and summed up in this brief picture, all which he saw. This it was and nothing but this, which met his eyes, wherever he looked, whatever he heard, "swearing, lying, killing, stealing, committing adultery."

1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 26.69-75

Upon the third assault, he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man, v. 74. This was worst of all, for the way of sin is down-hill. He cursed and swore, [1.] To back what he said, and to gain credit to it, that they might not any more call it in question; he did not only say it, but swear it; and yet what he said, was false.

1710 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Job 1.6-12

How spitefully he speaks of the impression it would make upon Job: "He will not only let fall his devotion, but turn it into an open defiance—not only think hardly of thee, but even curse thee to thy face." The word translated curse is barac, the same that ordinarily, and originally, signifies to bless; but cursing God is so impious a thing that the holy language would not admit the name: but that where the sense requires it it must be so understood is plain from 1 Kings xxi. 10-13, where the word is used concerning the crime charged on Naboth, that he did blaspheme God and the king.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 26.74

Then began he to curse ... - Peter was now irritated beyond endurance. He could no longer resist the evidence that he was known. It had been repeatedly charged on him. His language had betrayed him, and there was a positive witness who had seen him. He felt it necessary, therefore, to be still more decided, and he accordingly added to the sin of denying his Lord the deep aggravation of profane cursing and swearing, affirming what he must have known was false, that he knew not the man.

1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Job 1.5

Dr. Good contends that the word should be always rendered "bless," and so translates it in this place, "peradventure my sons may have sinned, "nor" blessed God in their hearts," understanding the Hebrew prefix ו (v) as a disjunctive or negative participle. So too in Job 2:9, rendered in our common translation, "curse God and die," he translates it, "blessing God and dying." But the interpretation which the connection demands is evidently that of cursing, renouncing, or forgetting; and so also it is in Job 2:9. This sense is still more obvious in 1Ki 21:10 : "Thou didst "blaspheme" ברך bārak God and the king." So also 1Ki 21:13 of the same chapter - though here Dr. Good contends that the word should be rendered "bless," and that the accusation was that Naboth "blessed" or worshipped the gods, even Moloch - where he supposes the word מלך melek, should be pointed מלך môlek and read "Molech." But the difficulty is not removed by this, and after all it is probable that the word here, as in Job 2:9, means to "curse."

1871 · David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Mark 14.71

But he began to curse—"anathematize," or wish himself accursed if what he was now to say was not true. and to swear—or to take a solemn oath. saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak.

1890 · Henry Burton, The Expositor's Bible: The Gospel According to St. Luke Chapter XXV. The Passion

When challenged the first time, by the maid who kept the door, Peter answered with a sharp, blunt negative: he was not a disciple; he did not even know Him. At the second challenge, by another maid, he replied with an absolute denial, but added to his denial the confirmation of an oath. At the third challenge, by one of the men standing near, he denied as before, but added to his denial both an oath and an anathema. It is rather unfortunate that our version renders it (Matt. xxvi. 74; Mark xiv. 71), "He began to curse and to swear;" for these words have a peculiarly ill savour, a taste of Billingsgate, which the original words have not. To our ear, "to curse and to swear" are the accomplishments of a loose and a foul tongue, which throws out its fires of passion in profanity, or in coarse obscenities, as it revels in immoralities of speech. The words in the New Testament, however, have a meaning altogether different. Here "to swear" means to take an oath, as in our courts of law, or rather to make an affirmation. Even God Himself is spoken of as swearing, as in the song of Zacharias (i. 73), where He is said to have remembered His holy covenant, "the oath which He sware unto Abraham our father." Indeed, this form of speech, the oath or affirmation, had come into too general use, as we may see from the paragraph upon oaths in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 33-37). Jesus here condemned it, it is true, for to Him who was Truth itself our word should be as our bond; but His reference to it shows how prevalent the custom was, even amongst strict legalists and moralists. When, then, Peter "swore," it does not mean that he suddenly became profane, but simply that he backed up his denial with a solemn affirmation. So, too, with the word "curse;" it has not our modern meaning. Literally rendered, it would be, "He put himself under an anathema," which "anathema" was the bond or penalty he was willing to pay if his words should not be true. In Acts xxiii. 12 we have the cognate word, where the "anathema" was, "They would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul." The curse thus was nothing immoral in itself; it was a form of speech even the purest might use, a sort of underlined affirmation.

1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: Matthew 26.74

Then began he to curse and to swear (τοτε ηρξατο καταθεματιζειν και ομνυειν). He repeated his denial with the addition of profanity to prove that he was telling the truth instead of the lie that they all knew. His repeated denials gave him away still more, for he could not pronounce the Judean gutterals. He called down on himself (καταθεματιζειν) imprecations in his desperate irritation and loss of self-control at his exposure.

c. 375–380 · Anonymous (compiler of the Apostolic Constitutions), Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (Apostolic Constitutions) 1.2

But if any one curse thee, do thou bless him. For it is written in the book of Numbers: “He that blesseth thee is blessed, and he that curseth thee is cursed.” In the same manner it is written in the Gospel: “Bless them that curse you.”

c. 1550–1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on James 3.11

11 Doth a fountain. He adduces these comparisons in order to shew that a cursing tongue is something monstrous, contrary to all nature, and subverts the order everywhere established by God. For God hath so arranged things which are contrary, that inanimate things ought to deter us from a chaotic mixture, such as is found in a double tongue.

1566 · Martin Luther, Table Talk 31

A Christian, for the sake of his own person, neither curses nor revenges himself; but faith curses and revenges itself. To understand this rightly, we must distinguish God and man, the person and cause. In what concerns God and his cause, we must have no patience, nor bless; as for example, when the ungodly persecute the Gospel, this touches God and his cause, and then we are not to bless or to wish good success, but rather to curse the persecutors and their proceedings. Such is called faith’s cursing, which, rather than it would suffer God’s Word to be suppressed and heresy maintained, would have all creatures go to wreck; for through heresy we lose God himself, Numbers xvi. But individuals personally ought not to revenge themselves, but to suffer all things, and according to Christ’s doctrine and the nature of love, to do good to their enemies.

1651 · Thomas Manton, Works, vol. IV A Practical Commentary, or an Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of James, Chapter III

The same tongue should not bless God and curse men, it is hypocrisy. Acts of piety are counterfeited when acts of charity are neglected: Ps. l. 16, with 19, 20, ‘What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit: thou speakest against thy brother, and slanderest thine own mother's son.’ Hypocrites are most censorious, but true piety maketh men meek and humble. It is storied of Cranmer, that he never miscalled a servant, or used words of disgrace and contempt to them. Religion begetteth a grave awe and reverence. The seraphim never revile, but only praise God: Jude 9, ‘He durst not bring a railing accusation against the devil.’ Some are of a wicked temper, can only curse, like dogs, non pro feritate, sed pro consuetudine latrant, that bark not so much out of fierceness as custom. They know not how to pray, their mouths are so inured to cursing and evil-speaking. Others there are that can curse and bless at the same time: ‘They bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly,’ Ps. lxii. 4; others that curse and rail under a pretence of piety and zeal. The evils of the tongue, where they are not restrained, cannot consist with true piety. Obedience is counterfeit where it is not uniform. One table cannot be kept with the violation of another. Oh! check yourselves, then, when you are about to break out into passion. Shall I pray and brawl with the same tongue? and divert from worship to railing? With this tongue I have been speaking to God, and shall it presently be set on fire of hell?

c. 1714 · S. Wright, Commentary on James 3.1-12

We are taught to think of the use we make of our tongues in religion and in the service of God, and by such a consideration to keep it from cursing, censuring, and every thing that is evil on other occasions: Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be, v. 9, 10. How absurd is it that those who use their tongues in prayer and praise should ever use them in cursing, slandering, and the like! If we bless God as our Father, it should teach us to speak well of, and kindly to, all who bear his image. That tongue which addresses with reverence the divine Being cannot, without the greatest inconsistency, turn upon fellow-creatures with reviling brawling language.

c. 1714 · John Evans, Commentary on Romans 12.1-21

If it be not in the power of our hand to do any thing else for them, yet we can testify our good-will by praying for them, for which our master hath given us not only a rule, but an example to back that rule, Luke xxiii. 34—Bless, and curse not. It denotes a thorough good-will in all the instances and expressions of it; not, "bless them when you are at prayer, and curse them at other times;" but, "bless them always, and curse not at all." Cursing ill becomes the mouths of those whose work it is to bless God, and whose happiness it is to be blessed of him.

c. 1714 · Samuel Rosewell, Commentary on Ephesians 5.3-20

Our cheerfulness, instead of breaking out into what is vain and sinful, and a profanation of God's name, should express itself as becomes Christians, and in what may tend to his glory. If men abounded more in good and pious expressions, they would not be so apt to utter ill and unbecoming words; for shall blessing and cursing, lewdness and thanksgivings, proceed out of the same mouth?

1742 · Jonathan Edwards, Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion in New England 4.4

I never heard nor read of any such thing practised in the church of God till now, unless it be with respect to some of the most visibly and notoriously abandoned enemies of the church of God. This is a sort of cursing men in our prayers, adding a curse with our blessing; whereas the rule is, Bless, and curse not. To pray that God would kill another, is to curse him as Elisha cursed the children who came out of Bethel.

1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on James 3.12

James does not, as Matthew (Mt 7:16, 17), make the question, "Do men gather figs of thistles?" His argument is, No tree "can" bring forth fruit inconsistent with its nature, as for example, the fig tree, olive berries: so if a man speaks bitterly, and afterwards speaks good words, the latter must be so only seemingly, and in hypocrisy, they cannot be real. so can no fountain … salt … and fresh—The oldest authorities read, "Neither can a salt (water spring) yield fresh." So the mouth that emits cursing, cannot really emit also blessing.

1872 · John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions 23

Are there any whose bitterness of spirit breaks forth in bitter words? who are continually cursing and reproaching you when you are present, and “saying all evil against you” when absent? So much the rather do you bless: In conversing with them use all mildness and softness of language. Reprove them, by repeating a better lesson before them; by showing them how they ought to have spoken. And, in speaking of them, say all the good you can, without violating the rules of truth and justice.

1910 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 56 (1910) 3226

James 3:12. THERE is only one answer to the question, of course, the fig tree can do nothing of the kind. It would be quite contrary to its nature and, therefore, the Apostle argues that Christians ought to act according to their nature. If we are, indeed, the children of God, we should act as His children and always act as His children. We are not consistent if at one time we speak as heirs of Heaven should speak and at another time speak as the heirs of wrath speak! James truly tells us that a fountain cannot, at the same time pour forth sweet water and bitter, salt water and fresh and he, therefore, rightly argues that from the same mouth there must not proceed blessing and cursing—there must be consistency of conduct in those who are the Lord's.

1916 · Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon's Sermons, Volume 62 (1916) 3517

Bless them who persecute you: bless, and curse not. A Christian cursing is a very awkward spectacle. Even the Pope, when he takes to cursing, as at least the former one used to do very liberally, seems as if he could hardly be the vicar of God on earth! Our work is to bless the sons of men. "Bless and curse not."

1930–1933 · A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament: James 3.10

It is a moral incongruity for blessing and cursing to come out of the same mouth.