What Does Deuteronomy 27:18 Mean?

Cursed be he who makes the blind go astray on the road. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Deuteronomy 27:18 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

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

THE KEY

The curse falls on the one who makes another lose the way, not on the blind person who cannot see it.

THE MEANING

When someone cannot see the way, this verse places responsibility on the one who makes them stray from it. The people’s “Amen” makes that recognition shared and public.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that a person who cannot see must bear the blame when someone leads them astray.

THE ROOT

מַשְׁגֶּה

mashgeh

GROWS FROM

שגה

To err or go astray; in this form, to cause someone to err.

“go astray” in this verse is mashgeh. The Hebrew makes the action causative: someone is made to stray. The same root names both going astray and inadvertent error, revealing how the verse places culpability on the person who causes the wandering.

ALSO GROWS

shagah: To err or go astray.

שָׁגָה

It names the straying itself; the verse’s form makes another person the cause of it.

shegagah: An inadvertent error.

שְׁגָגָה

This branch shares the root of wandering into error, while the verse focuses on the person who brings someone else into it.

THE PATTERN

The path of a person who cannot see is a responsibility to protect, never an opening to exploit.

You shall not curse the deaf, nor set a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall stand in awe of your God. I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:14 · SDVIt names placing an obstacle before the blind as a wrong, just as Deuteronomy condemns making them stray.

I will bring the blind on a way they have not known, and set them walking along paths they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them, and the crooked into straight. These things I will do for them, and I will not let go of them.

Isaiah 42:16 · SDVThe blind are led along an unfamiliar way, with the responsibility for their passage resting on the guide.

Let them go. They are blind guides of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

Matthew 15:14 · SDVA guide who cannot see the way can bring others into danger, making the responsibility of guidance plain.

THE THREAD

I will bring the blind on a way they have not known, and set them walking along paths they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them, and the crooked into straight. These things I will do for them, and I will not let go of them.

Isaiah 42:16 · SDV

Both verses connect “the blind” with “the way.” Deuteronomy names the one who causes the blind to stray; Isaiah speaks of leading the blind along an unknown way and not forsaking them.

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