Jeremiah 48:10

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The one who doesthe Lord’s business deceitfully is cursed,and the one who withholdshis sword from bloodshed is cursed.

Hebrew Names Version
Cursed be he who does the work of the LORD negligently; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.

King James Version
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

English Standard Version
"Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

New American Standard Bible
"Cursed is the one who does the LORD'S work negligently, And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood.

New Century Version
A curse will be on anyone who doesn't do what the Lord says, and a curse will be on anyone who holds back his sword from killing.

Amplified Bible
"Cursed is the one who does the work of the LORD negligently, And cursed is the one who restrains his sword from blood [in executing the judgment of the LORD].

World English Bible
Cursed be he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Cursed be he that doeth the worke of the Lord negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from blood.

Legacy Standard Bible
Cursed be the one who does the work of Yahweh with a slack hand,And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.

Berean Standard Bible
Cursed be the one who is negligent in doing the work of the LORD, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

Contemporary English Version
I want you to kill the Moabites, and if you let them escape, I will put a curse on you."

Complete Jewish Bible
A curse on him who does the work of Adonai carelessly! A curse on him who withholds his sword from blood!

Darby Translation
Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood!

Easy-to-Read Version
Bad things will happen to those who don't obey the Lord and don't use their swords to kill those people.

George Lamsa Translation
Cursed is be who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

Good News Translation
(Curse those who do not do the Lord 's work with all their heart! Curse those who do not slash and kill!)

Lexham English Bible
The one who does the work of Yahweh with slackness is cursed, and the one who keeps away blood from his sword is cursed.

Literal Translation
Cursed is he who does the work of Jehovah deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Cursed be he that doth the worke of the LORDE necligently, and cursed be he that kepeth backe his swearde from sheddynge off bloude.

American Standard Version
Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently; and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Bible in Basic English
Let him be cursed who does the Lord's work half-heartedly; let him be cursed who keeps back his sword from blood.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD with a slack hand, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

King James Version (1611)
Cursed be he that doeth the worke of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from blood.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Cursed be he that doth the worke of the Lorde fraudulently, and cursed be he that kepeth backe his sworde from sheddyng of blood.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Ismael brought back all the people that were left in Massepha, and the king’s daughter, whom the captain of the guard had committed in charge to Godolias the son of Achicam: and he went away beyond the children of Ammon.

English Revised Version
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He is cursid, that doith the werk of God gilefuli; and he is cursid, that forbedith his swerd fro blood.

Update Bible Version
Cursed be he that does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed be he that keeps back his sword from blood.

Webster's Bible Translation
Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

New English Translation
A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord 's work! A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction!

New King James Version
Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD deceitfully, And cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.

New Living Translation
Cursed are those who refuse to do the Lord 's work, who hold back their swords from shedding blood!

New Life Bible
The one who does the Lord's work without care is cursed. Cursed is the one who keeps his sword from blood.

New Revised Standard
Accursed is the one who is slack in doing the work of the Lord ; and accursed is the one who keeps back the sword from bloodshed.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Accursed be he that doeth the business of Yahweh carelessly; And, accursed be he that withholdeth his sword, from blood!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully: and cursed be he that withholdeth his sword from blood.

Revised Standard Version
"Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.

Young's Literal Translation
Cursed [is] he who is doing the work of Jehovah slothfully, And cursed [is] he Who is withholding his sword from blood.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Cursed be the one who does the LORD'S work negligently, And cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood.

Contextual Overview

¹The Message on Moab from God -of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: "Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the ground! Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated, The mighty fortress reduced to a molehill, Moab's glory—dust and ashes. Conspirators plot Heshbon's doom: ‘Come, let's wipe Moab off the map.' Dungface Dimon will loudly lament, as killing follows killing. Listen! A cry out of Horonaim: ‘Disaster—doom and more doom!' Moab will be shattered. Her cries will be heard clear down in Zoar. Up the ascent of Luhith climbers weep, And down the descent from Horonaim, cries of loss and devastation. Oh, run for your lives! Get out while you can! Survive by your wits in the wild! You trusted in thick walls and big money, yes? But it won't help you now. Your big god Chemosh will be hauled off, his priests and managers with him. A wrecker will wreck every city. Not a city will survive. The valley fields will be ruined, the plateau pastures destroyed, just as I told you. Cover the land of Moab with salt. Make sure nothing ever grows here again. Her towns will all be ghost towns. Nobody will ever live here again. Sloppy work in God 's name is cursed, and cursed all halfhearted use of the sword. ¹¹"Moab has always taken it easy— lazy as a dog in the sun, Never had to work for a living, never faced any trouble, Never had to grow up, never once worked up a sweat. But those days are a thing of the past. I'll put him to work at hard labor. That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks. That will smash his illusions. Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods, the calf-gods she thought were so great. For how long do you think you'll be saying, ‘We're tough. We can beat anyone anywhere'? The destruction of Moab has already begun. Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now." The King's Decree— his full name, God -of-the-Angel-Armies. "Yes. Moab's doom is on countdown, disaster targeted and launched. Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors, all who know how famous he's been. Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick, that magnificent royal staff!'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cursed: Jeremiah 50:25, Numbers 31:14-18, Judges 5:23, 1 Samuel 15:3, 1 Samuel 15:9, 1 Samuel 15:13-35, 1 Kings 20:42

deceitfully: or, negligently

Reciprocal: Genesis 27:12 - and I shall Numbers 31:15 - General Deuteronomy 20:17 - thou shalt Joshua 10:19 - stay ye Judges 1:27 - the Canaanites Judges 17:2 - cursedst Judges 21:5 - a great oath 1 Samuel 15:33 - hewed 1 Samuel 28:18 - obeyedst 1 Kings 18:40 - slew them there Jeremiah 50:21 - and do Malachi 1:14 - cursed

Cross-References

Genesis 27:1
When Isaac had become an old man and was nearly blind, he called his eldest son, Esau, and said, "My son." "Yes, Father?"

Genesis 27:27
He came close and kissed him and Isaac smelled the smell of his clothes. Finally, he blessed him, Ahhh. The smell of my son is like the smell of the open country blessed by God . May God give you of Heaven's dew and Earth's bounty of grain and wine. May peoples serve you and nations honor you. You will master your brothers, and your mother's sons will honor you. Those who curse you will be cursed, those who bless you will be blessed.

Genesis 31:55
Jacob learned that Laban's sons were talking behind his back: "Jacob has used our father's wealth to make himself rich at our father's expense." At the same time, Jacob noticed that Laban had changed toward him. He wasn't treating him the same. That's when God said to Jacob, "Go back home where you were born. I'll go with you." So Jacob sent word for Rachel and Leah to meet him out in the field where his flocks were. He said, "I notice that your father has changed toward me; he doesn't treat me the same as before. But the God of my father hasn't changed; he's still with me. You know how hard I've worked for your father. Still, your father has cheated me over and over, changing my wages time and again. But God never let him really hurt me. If he said, ‘Your wages will consist of speckled animals' the whole flock would start having speckled lambs and kids. And if he said, ‘From now on your wages will be streaked animals' the whole flock would have streaked ones. Over and over God used your father's livestock to reward me. "Once, while the flocks were mating, I had a dream and saw the billy goats, all of them streaked, speckled, and mottled, mounting their mates. In the dream an angel of God called out to me, ‘Jacob!' "I said, ‘Yes?' "He said, ‘Watch closely. Notice that all the goats in the flock that are mating are streaked, speckled, and mottled. I know what Laban's been doing to you. I'm the God of Bethel where you consecrated a pillar and made a vow to me. Now be on your way, get out of this place, go home to your birthplace.'" Rachel and Leah said, "Has he treated us any better? Aren't we treated worse than outsiders? All he wanted was the money he got from selling us, and he's spent all that. Any wealth that God has seen fit to return to us from our father is justly ours and our children's. Go ahead. Do what God told you." Jacob did it. He put his children and his wives on camels and gathered all his livestock and everything he had gotten, everything acquired in Paddan Aram, to go back home to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. Laban was off shearing sheep. Rachel stole her father's household gods. And Jacob had concealed his plans so well that Laban the Aramean had no idea what was going on—he was totally in the dark. Jacob got away with everything he had and was soon across the Euphrates headed for the hill country of Gilead. Three days later, Laban got the news: "Jacob's run off." Laban rounded up his relatives and chased after him. Seven days later they caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and said, "Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad." When Laban reached him, Jacob's tents were pitched in the Gilead mountains; Laban pitched his tents there, too. "What do you mean," said Laban, "by keeping me in the dark and sneaking off, hauling my daughters off like prisoners of war? Why did you run off like a thief in the night? Why didn't you tell me? Why, I would have sent you off with a great celebration—music, timbrels, flutes! But you wouldn't permit me so much as a kiss for my daughters and grandchildren. It was a stupid thing for you to do. If I had a mind to, I could destroy you right now, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, ‘Be careful what you do to Jacob, whether good or bad.' I understand. You left because you were homesick. But why did you steal my household gods?" Jacob answered Laban, "I was afraid. I thought you would take your daughters away from me by brute force. But as far as your gods are concerned, if you find that anybody here has them, that person dies. With all of us watching, look around. If you find anything here that belongs to you, take it." Jacob didn't know that Rachel had stolen the gods. Laban went through Jacob's tent, Leah's tent, and the tents of the two maids but didn't find them. He went from Leah's tent to Rachel's. But Rachel had taken the household gods, put them inside a camel cushion, and was sitting on them. When Laban had gone through the tent, searching high and low without finding a thing, Rachel said to her father, "Don't think I'm being disrespectful, my master, that I can't stand before you, but I'm having my period." So even though he turned the place upside down in his search, he didn't find the household gods. Now it was Jacob's turn to get angry. He lit into Laban: "So what's my crime, what wrong have I done you that you badger me like this? You've ransacked the place. Have you turned up a single thing that's yours? Let's see it—display the evidence. Our two families can be the jury and decide between us. "In the twenty years I've worked for you, ewes and she-goats never miscarried. I never feasted on the rams from your flock. I never brought you a torn carcass killed by wild animals but that I paid for it out of my own pocket—actually, you made me pay whether it was my fault or not. I was out in all kinds of weather, from torrid heat to freezing cold, putting in many a sleepless night. For twenty years I've done this: I slaved away fourteen years for your two daughters and another six years for your flock and you changed my wages ten times. If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not stuck with me, you would have sent me off penniless. But God saw the fix I was in and how hard I had worked and last night rendered his verdict." Laban defended himself: "The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, the flock is my flock—everything you see is mine. But what can I do about my daughters or for the children they've had? So let's settle things between us, make a covenant—God will be the witness between us." Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar. Jacob called his family around, "Get stones!" They gathered stones and heaped them up and then ate there beside the pile of stones. Laban named it in Aramaic, Yegar-sahadutha (Witness Monument); Jacob echoed the naming in Hebrew, Galeed (Witness Monument). Laban said, "This monument of stones will be a witness, beginning now, between you and me." (That's why it is called Galeed—Witness Monument.) It is also called Mizpah (Watchtower) because Laban said, " God keep watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight. If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives when there's no one around to see you, God will see you and stand witness between us." Laban continued to Jacob, "This monument of stones and this stone pillar that I have set up is a witness, a witness that I won't cross this line to hurt you and you won't cross this line to hurt me. The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor (the God of their ancestor) will keep things straight between us." Jacob promised, swearing by the Fear, the God of his father Isaac. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and worshiped, calling in all his family members to the meal. They ate and slept that night on the mountain. Laban got up early the next morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, blessed them, and then set off for home.

1 Kings 19:20
Elisha deserted the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, "Please! Let me kiss my father and mother good-bye—then I'll follow you." "Go ahead," said Elijah, "but, mind you, don't forget what I've just done to you."

Isaiah 59:1
Look! Listen! God 's arm is not amputated—he can still save. God 's ears are not stopped up—he can still hear. There's nothing wrong with God; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and God. Your sins got between you so that he doesn't hear. Your hands are drenched in blood, your fingers dripping with guilt, Your lips smeared with lies, your tongue swollen from muttering obscenities. No one speaks up for the right, no one deals fairly. They trust in illusion, they tell lies, they get pregnant with mischief and have sin-babies. They hatch snake eggs and weave spider webs. Eat an egg and die; break an egg and get a snake! The spider webs are no good for shirts or shawls. No one can wear these weavings! They weave wickedness, they hatch violence. They compete in the race to do evil and run to be the first to murder. They plan and plot evil, think and breathe evil, and leave a trail of wrecked lives behind them. They know nothing about peace and less than nothing about justice. They make tortuously twisted roads. No peace for the wretch who walks down those roads!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Cursed [be] he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully,.... Which is said with respect to the Chaldeans, who were enjoined to destroy the Moabites; which is called the work of the Lord, because he had given them a commission to do it; and which was to be done by them, not by halves, or in a remiss and negligent manner, but fully and faithfully; they were not to spare them, as Saul did the Amalekites, and Ahab Benhadad. This is a general rule, which may be applied to all divine work and service; every man has work to do for God; some in a more public, others in a more private way; all should be done in uprightness and sincerity, with all faithfulness and integrity: it is done deceitfully when men play the hypocrite; and negligently when they are backward to it, lukewarm in it, and infrequent in the performance of it; which brings upon them the curse of God; and which is not a curse causeless, but a legal one; and is no other than the wrath of God in strict justice:

and cursed [be] he that keepeth back his sword from blood; from shedding the blood of the Moabites, when God had given command to do it. The curse is repeated, as Kimchi observes, to confirm the matter, that it might be most assuredly expected; since it would certainly come, if the Lord's work was not done aright.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Deceitfully - Better as in the margin.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 48:10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully — Moab is doomed to destruction, and the Lord pronounces a curse on their enemies if they do not proceed to utter extirpation. God is the Author of life, and has a sovereign right to dispose of it as he pleases; and these had forfeited theirs long ago by their idolatry and other crimes.