Two different words for “curse” are used in this verse. You shall not revile God is literally “ʾelohim you [singular] shall not curse,” but most translations use a milder term than “curse.” Good News Translation‘s footnote calls attention to the other possible meaning of ʾelohim, but this is generally not accepted for this verse. The same word for revile is used in 21.17 (see the comment there), where it is translated as “curse” in relation to one’s parents. However, here it suggests the idea of humiliating someone. So Good News Translation has “Do not speak evil of God,” and Durham has “You are not to show disrespect for God.” One may also say “Do not speak disrespectfully about God.”

The word used in the second clause, nor curse a ruler, is a stronger term, meaning to inflict with a curse in order to destroy or exclude a person from the community. This word is never used with God as the object. The word for ruler refers to a minor king, a “chief” (Revised English Bible), or a “leader” (Good News Translation). There could be more than one “leader,” so Translator’s Old Testament has “you shall not curse any of your leaders.” A ruler of your people refers, of course, to a leader of the Israelites. Revised English Bible has “of your own people.” (Your is singular.) In some languages it will be possible to find terms that show the difference between these two Hebrew terms: (1) revile, or “speak disrespectfully about,” and (2) curse, or “pray for evil against.” If this difference in meaning cannot be maintained in a receptor language, then one may express the verse as “Don’t say evil words against God or one of the leaders of your people” (similarly Contemporary English Version).

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 .