Judges 5:23
New International Version
Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD. ‘Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

New Living Translation
‘Let the people of Meroz be cursed,’ said the angel of the LORD. ‘Let them be utterly cursed, because they did not come to help the LORD— to help the LORD against the mighty warriors.’

English Standard Version
“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

Berean Standard Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

King James Bible
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

New King James Version
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.’

New American Standard Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants, Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the warriors.’

NASB 1995
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants; Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the warriors.’

NASB 1977
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants; Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the warriors.’

Legacy Standard Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of Yahweh, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants, Because they did not come to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh against the warriors.’

Amplified Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ said the messenger of the LORD, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants; Because they did not come to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.’

Christian Standard Bible
“Curse Meroz,” says the angel of the LORD, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD with the warriors.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Curse Meroz,” says the Angel of the LORD,” Bitterly curse her inhabitants, for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty warriors.”

American Standard Version
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Jehovah. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, Because they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah against the mighty.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“Curse Merod”, said The Angel of LORD JEHOVAH! Curse it and curse its inhabitants because they did not come to the help of LORD JEHOVAH with men

Brenton Septuagint Translation
to curse Meroz: Curse ye it, said the angel of the Lord; cursed is every one that dwells in it, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to his help among the mighty.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD's angel said, "Put a curse on Meroz Town! Its people refused to help the LORD fight his powerful enemies."

Douay-Rheims Bible
Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord: curse the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to help his most valiant men.

English Revised Version
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Curse Meroz!" said the Messenger of the LORD. "Bitterly curse those who live there! They did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD and his heroes."

Good News Translation
"Put a curse on Meroz," says the angel of the LORD, "a curse, a curse on those who live there. They did not come to help the LORD, come as soldiers to fight for him."

International Standard Version
"'Meroz is cursed!' declared the angel of the LORD. 'Utterly and totally cursed are its inhabitants, because they never came to the aid of the LORD, to the aid of the LORD against the valiant warriors!'"

JPS Tanakh 1917
Curse ye Meroz', said the angel of the LORD, 'Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, Because they came not to the help of the LORD, To the help of the LORD against the mighty.'

Literal Standard Version
Curse Meroz, said a messenger of YHWH, | Cursing, curse its inhabitants! For they did not come to the help of YHWH, | To the help of YHWH among the mighty!

Majority Standard Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

New American Bible
“Curse Meroz,” says the messenger of the LORD, “curse, curse its inhabitants! For they did not come when the LORD helped, the help of the LORD against the warriors.”

NET Bible
Call judgment down on Meroz,' says the LORD's angelic messenger; 'Be sure to call judgment down on those who live there, because they did not come to help in the LORD's battle, to help in the LORD's battle against the warriors.'

New Revised Standard Version
“Curse Meroz, says the angel of the LORD, curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

New Heart English Bible
Curse Meroz, said the angel of the LORD. Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.

Webster's Bible Translation
Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly its inhabitants; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

World English Bible
‘Curse Meroz,’ said Yahweh’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’

Young's Literal Translation
Curse Meroz -- said a messenger of Jehovah, Cursing, curse ye its inhabitants, For they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah among the mighty!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Song of Deborah and Barak
22Then the hooves of horses thundered—the mad galloping of his stallions. 23‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’ 24Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.…

Cross References
Judges 5:13
Then the survivors came down to the nobles; the people of the LORD came down to me against the mighty.

Judges 21:5
The Israelites asked, "Who among all the tribes of Israel did not come to the assembly before the LORD?" For they had taken a solemn oath that anyone who failed to come up before the LORD at Mizpah would surely be put to death.

Judges 21:10
So the congregation sent 12,000 of their most valiant men and commanded them: "Go and put to the sword those living in Jabesh-gilead, including women and children.


Treasury of Scripture

Curse you Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse you bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

curse ye

1 Samuel 26:19
Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

Jeremiah 48:10
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

1 Corinthians 16:22
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

meroz.

Judges 2:1
And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

Judges 4:6
And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

Judges 6:11
And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.

they came

Judges 21:9,10
For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there…

Nehemiah 3:5
And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.

to the help

1 Samuel 17:47
And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

1 Samuel 18:17
And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

1 Samuel 25:28
I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

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Judges 5
1. The Song of Deborah and Barak














(23) Curse ye Meroz.--The guilt of Meroz was worse than that of the tribes which held aloof, because, whatever may have been its exact site, it was evidently in the very heart of the country which had been thus inspired to strike a blow for freedom. Possibly it would have been in the power of the inhabitants at least to cut off the retreat of the enemy. We may conjecture, from the ban thus laid on Meroz, that it felt the vengeance of the victorious Israelites, and was destroyed or punished like Succoth and Penuel. Their crime was detrectatio militiae, which the ancients regarded with special indignation. The case of Jabesh Gilead, in Judges 21:9-10, may account for the difficulty of ascertaining the site of the town; it is not mentioned elsewhere. By some it is identified with Kefr Musr, a village to the south of Tabor (5 Raumer); by others with Marussus, north of Bethshean. It has been conjectured that the true reading may be Merom, and Dr. Thomson identifies it with Marom, as Eusebius alludes to it under the name Merran, and Jerome calls it Merrom. They, however, place it near Dothan, twelve miles from Shechem--a very unlikely locality.

Said the angel of the Lord.--The Maleak Jehovah, as in Judges 3:1. Here, as in that passage, some (referring to Haggai 1:13; Malachi 2:7) suppose that Deborah is herself the angel or messenger of the Lord. However that may be, she certainly speaks as the mouthpiece of Jehovah's messenger (Judges 4:4). . . .

Verse 23. - Meroz, in the time of Jerome Meres, a village otherwise unknown, twelve miles from Samaria. The mighty. Not the same word as that so rendered in ver. 22, but that usually rendered a mighty man, or a man of war.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
‘Curse
א֣וֹרוּ (’ō·w·rū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 779: To execrate

Meroz,’
מֵר֗וֹז (mê·rō·wz)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 4789: Meroz -- a place in Northern Palestine

says
אָמַר֙ (’ā·mar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

the angel
מַלְאַ֣ךְ (mal·’aḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4397: A messenger, of God, an angel

of the LORD.
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

‘Bitterly curse
אֹ֥רוּ (’ō·rū)
Verb - Qal - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 779: To execrate

her inhabitants;
יֹשְׁבֶ֑יהָ (yō·šə·ḇe·hā)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 3427: To sit down, to dwell, to remain, to settle, to marry

for
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they did not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

come
בָ֙אוּ֙ (ḇā·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to help
לְעֶזְרַ֣ת (lə·‘ez·raṯ)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5833: Help, helper, assistance

the LORD,
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

to help
לְעֶזְרַ֥ת (lə·‘ez·raṯ)
Preposition-l | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5833: Help, helper, assistance

the LORD
יְהוָ֖ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

against the mighty.’
בַּגִּבּוֹרִֽים׃ (bag·gib·bō·w·rîm)
Preposition-b, Article | Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 1368: Powerful, warrior, tyrant


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OT History: Judges 5:23 Curse Meroz said the angel of Yahweh (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 5:22
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