To curse
קָבַבStrong’s H6895qavav (qa-vav)
Appears in 12 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Qavav is the Hebrew word usually translated “curse”, “has cursed him” and “curse it”. It appears in 12 verses of the Old Testament.
“Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.”
Meaning
- To curse, utter a curse against(Qal) to curse
How it's translated
- curse 2
- to curse 2
- will i curse 1
- he has cursed him 1
- and curse it 1
- at all 1
- you will curse it 1
- and you will curse it 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Numbers 8
- Job 2
- Proverbs 2
3 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Numbers 22:17For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
- Numbers 23:8How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?
- Numbers 23:11And Balak said unto Balaam, What hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.
- Numbers 23:13And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee, with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and curse me them from thence.
- Numbers 23:25And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
- Numbers 23:27And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence.
Hebrew dictionary
קָבַב qavav · to curse
1) to curse, utter a curse against 1a) (Qal) to curse
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “curse” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
CURSE, verb transitive
preterit tense and participle passive cursed or curst.
- To utter a wish of evil against one; to imprecate evil upon; to call for mischief or injury to fall upon; to execrate.“Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people” Exodus 22:28“Bless and curse not” Romans 12:14“CURSE me this people, for they are too mighty for me” Numbers 22:6
- To injure; to subject to evil; to vex, harass or torment with great calamities.
- To devote to evil.
All definitions and other forms of “curse”
CURSE, verb intransitive
To utter imprecations; to affirm or deny with imprecations of divine vengeance.
- “Then began he to curse and to swear” Matthew 26:74
CURSE, noun
- Malediction; the expression of a wish of evil to another.
- Imprecation of evil.“They entered into a curse and into an oath” Nehemiah 10:29
- Affliction; torment; great vexation.“I will make this city a curse to all nations” Jeremiah 26:6
- Condemnation; sentence of divine vengeance on sinners.“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law” Galatians 3:13
- Denunciation of evil.“The priest shall write all these curses in a book” Numbers 5:23
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.