5.1 Curse

5.1 Curse

Curse – definition: a prayer or invocation [calling upon] for harm or injury to come upon someone: imprecation [to invoke evil on]: evil or misfortune that comes as if in response to imprecation or as retribution [receiving of reward or punishment]: a cause of great harm or misfortune: torment [extreme pain or anguish of body or mind]: to use profanely [abusively] insolent [insulting] language against: blaspheme [address with irreverence]: to call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury: to execrate [detest utterly] in fervent and often profane terms: to bring great evil upon: afflict [to cause persistent suffering or anguish  ]: swear ‹cursing loudly›. Merriam-Webster Dictionary

By Peter Snyders  27.7.2025.

We have seen how Jehovah curses the serpent and how he removed the serpent’s legs. Does your God curse?

American Standard Version

Genesis 3:14.        And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Genesis 3:17.        And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Comment: Because Adam had listened to his wife, Jehovah cursed the ground so that the food that humans eat would be obtained with much toil. Must a man not listen to his wife? Did the serpent in fact do the wrong thing?  What does Jesus tell His disciples in Matthew 10:16? “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” If you check this out and find that the serpent was telling the truth, what does it say about the God Jehovah?

What about people who do not work on getting food for others, like the office or factory workers, and all the other non-farming work? And the rich? Are they all blessed because they escape Jehovah’s curse? 

Who created the serpent?

Genesis 4:11.        And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

Comment: We will point out how this earthbound god says that all the firstborn, including animals, are his. Even if the firstborn is born of a bonded (slave) woman. In the above story, Cain is the firstborn, yet Jehovah chooses Abel over Cain.

Genesis 8:21.        And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, for that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

Comment: In the verse above, Jehovah, after smelling the sweet savor of the sacrifice, changes his mind about cursing the ground any further. He realizes humans make mistakes from their youth, but we will see how cruelly, by the thousands, he kills Israeli men for going against him, sometimes even in ways that they were not aware of doing him any wrong.

Isn’t a God supposed to be omniscient? If he were wise, then surely, he would have realized that cursing the ground, living beings, and humans was the wrong thing to do.

We will show how this humanlike “God” who can “smell the sweet savour of the sacrifice” carries on cursing.  Is this your idea of God? What about a God who forgives, Loves, understands, and, who,  like the Buddha, “regards all as equal,” who “has no feelings of like and dislike” [1]

1.        Buddha (God) Nature in Lotus Sutra pp 146 & 165