What Does Leviticus 24:23 Mean in the King James?

And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Leviticus 24:23 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The curse does not remain a sound: the community carries it into a public, collective killing.

THE MEANING

The verse confronts you with a sentence carried out by the whole assembly: the accused is taken outside the camp and stoned. Its violence is explicit, and the people themselves become the agents who enact it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The assumption that the curse stays only in speech is broken here: it triggers a collective killing.

THE ROOT

מְקַלֵּל

məqallēl

GROWS FROM

קלל

⁨קלל⁩ (qalal): be light, make light of, or treat as contemptible; in the Piel form, curse or revile.

“cursed” in this verse is məqallēl. The Hebrew root joins cursing with making light of or treating as contemptible, so the speech is not framed as sound alone. Here that speech is answered with bodily violence.

ALSO GROWS

qəlālāh: curse; a curse utterance

קְלָלָה

This noun from ⁨קלל⁩ shows the same root naming the curse as a thing with consequence.

wayqallēl: and he cursed

וַיְקַלֵּל

This verb form from ⁨קלל⁩ appears in the account of the act and links the condemned person in this verse to the speech that precedes it.

THE PATTERN

Words are treated as consequential acts that can bring judgment and damage beyond the speaker.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Proverbs 18:21 · KJVSpeech is pictured as carrying consequences of life and death, with fruit that returns to those who speak.

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:36 · KJVThe spoken word enters an account and is treated as consequential at judgment.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

James 3:6 · KJVThe tongue’s reach extends beyond the speaker, defiling the whole body and setting a course ablaze.

THE THREAD

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:3 · KJV

The word rendered “curseth” comes from ⁨קלל⁩, the same Hebrew root as ⁨מְקַלֵּל⁩ in Leviticus. Genesis places this root beside blessing, showing cursing as a consequential relation rather than empty sound.

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