Curse

Curse in Scripture denotes the pronouncement of harm or exclusion as divine judgment or as a conditional consequence of covenant violation. God's first curses fall on the serpent (Genesis 3:14), on Cain (4:11), and — through Adam's disobedience — on the ground itself (3:17). Noah's curse on Canaan (9:25), Jacob's curse on the anger of Simeon and Levi (49:7), and Joshua's curse on the rebuilder of Jericho (6:26) represent human pronouncements with divine backing. Deuteronomy 27–28 catalogues the covenant curses that would fall on Israel for disobedience — the most extensive curse-list in the Old Testament — and the exile is explicitly interpreted as their fulfillment.

Paul's theology of redemption from the curse in Galatians 3:10–13 is foundational: Christ became a curse for us — citing Deuteronomy 21:23's stipulation that one hung on a tree is cursed — thereby redeeming those under the law's curse. The final removal of curse is an eschatological promise: Revelation 22:3 declares that in the new Jerusalem there will be no more curse — the reversal of Genesis 3 accomplished through the death of Christ and applied to all creation in the new heaven and earth.