3:9a
You are cursed with a curse: In Hebrew this is a strong statement which would be better translated: “you are greatly cursed” or “you are truly under a curse” in English.
If people are cursed, they suffer under the LORD’s punishment, instead of enjoying his favor. It is the opposite of being blessed. See the note on 1:14a.
In some languages the word for “curse” might convey a wrong meaning if you used it here. If that is true in your language, it may be more accurate if you use the idea that the LORD would judge or punish them. For example:
You are bound for judgement… (NET Bible)
In some languages it may be more natural to express this idea with an intransitive verb or with an active expression. For example:
You are suffering under a curse… (Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures)
-or-
You are suffering because I have cursed you…
The LORD was not specific in this verse about the way that he would curse or punish the people. However 3:10–12 implies that their crops were destroyed.
3:9b
you—the whole nation: Scholars differ about whom this expression identifies. There are two options:
(1) It identifies those who are robbing God. For example:
9a A curse is on all of you 9b because the whole nation is cheating me. (Good News Translation)
(2) It identifies those who are under a curse. For example:
You are under a curse—the whole nation of you —because you are robbing me. (New International Version)
Both of these options are true. The whole nation has been robbing God, and the whole nation is under a curse because of that. You should express this idea in the most natural way in your language.
If you must make one of these options explicit, it is recommended that you follow option (1).
© 2007 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.