Whoever curses his father or his mother is the same form as the previous participial laws. The participle here, however, literally means “one who makes small, or humiliates.” This is why New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses “insults” and Revised English Bible uses “reviles.” The same word is used in 22.28, where Revised Standard Version uses “revile” in a law against reviling God. The law in this verse therefore covers a wider field than just speaking curses against one’s parents. And the penalty here is also death, expressed emphatically. (See verse 12.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .