Leviticus 19:14
New International Version
“’Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.

New Living Translation
“Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the LORD.

English Standard Version
You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible
You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

King James Bible
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

New King James Version
You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

New American Standard Bible
You shall not curse a person who is deaf, nor put a stumbling block before a person who is blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

NASB 1995
‘You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

NASB 1977
‘You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall not curse a deaf man nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God; I am Yahweh.

Amplified Bible
You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the LORD.

Christian Standard Bible
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you are to fear your God; I am the LORD.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you are to fear your God; I am Yahweh.”

American Standard Version
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind; but thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Do not insult the deaf and you shall not put a stumbling stone before the blind, but be reverent of your God; I AM LORD JEHOVAH.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thou shalt not revile the deaf, neither shalt thou put a stumbling-block in the way of the blind; and thou shalt fear the Lord thy God: I am the Lord your God.

Contemporary English Version
I am the LORD your God, and I command you not to make fun of the deaf or to cause a blind person to stumble.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt not speak evil of the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind: but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord.

English Revised Version
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but thou shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Never curse deaf people or put anything in the way of blind people to make them stumble. Instead, fear your God. I am the LORD.

Good News Translation
Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the LORD your God.

International Standard Version
"You are not to curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block before the blind. "You are to fear God. I am the LORD.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but thou shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Literal Standard Version
You do not revile the deaf; and you do not put a stumbling block before the blind; and you have been afraid of your God; I [am] YHWH.

Majority Standard Bible
You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

New American Bible
You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

NET Bible
You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. You must fear your God; I am the LORD.

New Revised Standard Version
You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

New Heart English Bible
"'You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

World English Bible
“‘You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation
Thou dost not revile the deaf; and before the blind thou dost not put a stumbling block; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; I am Jehovah.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Love Your Neighbor
13You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand. 14You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD. 15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.…

Cross References
Deuteronomy 27:18
Cursed is he who lets a blind man wander in the road.' And let all the people say, 'Amen!'

Leviticus 19:15
You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.


Treasury of Scripture

You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

not curse

Deuteronomy 27:18
Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Romans 12:14
Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Romans 14:13
Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

fear

Leviticus 19:32
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 25:17
Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am the LORD your God.

Genesis 42:18
And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:

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Leviticus 19
1. A repetition of various laws














(14) Thou shalt not curse the deaf.--To revile one who cannot hear, and is therefore unable to vindicate himself, is both inexpressibly mean and wicked. The term deaf also includes the absent, and hence out of hearing (Psalm 38:14-15). According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, this prohibition was directed against all cursing whatsoever. For, said they, if to curse one who cannot hear, and whom, therefore, it cannot grieve, is prohibited, how much more is it forbidden to curse one who hears it, and who is both enraged and grieved by it.

Nor put a stumblingblock before the blind.--In Deuteronomy 27:18 a curse is pronounced upon those who lead the blind astray. To help those who were thus afflicted was always regarded as a meritorious act. Hence among the benevolent services which Job rendered to his neighbours, he says "I was eyes to the blind" (Job 29:15). According to the interpretation which obtained in the time of Christ, this is to be understood figuratively. It forbids imposition upon the ignorant, and misdirecting those who seek advice, thus causing them to fall. Similar tenderness to the weak is enjoined by the Apostle: "That no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way" (Romans 14:13).

But shalt fear thy God.--Deafness and blindness may prevent the sufferers from detecting the offender, and bringing him to justice before an earthly tribunal, but God on high hears it when the human ear is stopped up, and sees it when the human eye is extinct. Hence the prohibition against injustice to the infirm and the poor is enforced by an appeal to fear the Lord. (See Leviticus 19:32.) . . .

Verse 14. - Thou shalt not curse the deaf. The sin of cursing another is in itself complete, whether the curse be heard by that other or not, because it is the outcome of sin in the speaker's heart. The suffering caused to one who hears the curse creates a further sin by adding an injury to the person addressed. Strangely in contrast with this is not only the practice of irreligious men, who care little how they curse a man in his absence, but the teaching which is regarded by a large body of Christians as incontrovertible. "No harm is done to reverence but by an open manifestation of insult. How, then, can a son sin gravely when he curses his father without the latter's knowing it, or mocks at him behind his back, inasmuch as in that case there is neither insult nor irreverence? And I think that the same is to be said, even though he does this before others. It must be altogether understood that he does not sin gravely if he curses his parents, whether they are alive or dead, unless the curses are uttered with malevolent meaning." This is the decision of one that is called not only a saint, but a "doctor of the Church" (Liguori, 'Theol. Moral.,' 4:334). "Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put ant in obscure darkness," says the Word of God (Proverbs 20:20). Nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God. By the last clause the eye is directed to God, who can see and punish, however little the blind man is able to help himself. (Cf. Job 29:15, "I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.")

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
You must not
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

curse
תְקַלֵּ֣ל (ṯə·qal·lêl)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 7043: To be slight, swift or trifling

the deaf
חֵרֵ֔שׁ (ḥê·rêš)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2795: Deaf

or place
תִתֵּ֖ן (ṯit·tên)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

a stumbling block
מִכְשֹׁ֑ל (miḵ·šōl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4383: A stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, a stumbling block

before
וְלִפְנֵ֣י (wə·lip̄·nê)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

the blind,
עִוֵּ֔ר (‘iw·wêr)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 5787: Blind

but you are to fear
וְיָרֵ֥אתָ (wə·yā·rê·ṯā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 3372: To fear, to revere, caus, to frighten

your God.
מֵּאֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ (mê·’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

I
אֲנִ֥י (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

am the LORD.
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


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OT Law: Leviticus 19:14 You shall not curse the deaf (Le Lv Lev.)
Leviticus 19:13
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