Accursed

"Accursed" (Hebrew herem, devoted to destruction; Greek anathema, set apart for divine judgment) designates persons or things placed under divine curse and devoted to destruction. In OT holy war, items and peoples were declared herem — totally devoted to destruction as belonging wholly to God, with no portion to be kept for human use (Josh. 6:17–19; 7:1, 11–13). Achan's sin of secretly keeping herem items brought judgment on all Israel (Josh. 7:1–26). The LXX translates herem with anathema, which carries the related meaning of something devoted to God — either in the positive sense of a votive offering (Luke 21:5) or the negative sense of devoted to destruction and divine curse. Paul uses anathema with full force: he pronounces anathema on any who preach a different gospel — even an angel or Paul himself (Gal. 1:8–9). In 1 Corinthians 12:3, no one speaking by the Spirit says "Jesus is accursed (anathema)"; the opposite confession — "Jesus is Lord" — is the mark of the Spirit. The most startling usage is Paul's conditional self-imprecation in Romans 9:3: he could wish himself accursed (anathema) from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen — a hyperbolic expression of intercession, not a doctrinal claim about forfeiting salvation.