“Like a fluttering bird or like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause does not come to rest.” -Proverbs 26:2 

Though fallen greatly out of favor in modern times, the topic of cursing is still quite pertient today. In essence, I would define it as wishing ill upon another—usually in response to some grievance or wrongdoing.

The bird landing: understanding a “curse”

In the verse above, a curse is compared to a bird being sent out, and trying to “land” on someone. If there is no basis for the curse, it won’t actually connect. The imagery here is that if there is no landing spot for the bird, it won’t actually touch down—i.e., the curse will have no effect on its intended target.

Examples of curses “landing” in the Bible

In the book of Judges, Gideon had 70 sons, and one of them, Abimelech, had killed all 70 of his half-brothers and taken up sole rule. But one brother, Jotham, survived, and cursed his brother for his cruel wickedness against his own family. In the end,  Abimelech too met a violet end, and the Bible summaries it thus “God repaid Abimelech for the evil he did to his father by murdering his seventy half-brothers… The curse spoken by Jotham son of Jerub-Baal fell on them” (Judges‬ ‭9‬:‭56‬-‭57‬).

This is a textbook example of a curse “landing.” There was true guilt, God was truly angry, and justice was brought to pass.

Let’s look at one more example to get a better picture of this principle.

“You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.” -Exodus 22:22 -24 

An interesting note about this passage is that it almost implies that, under ordinary circumstances, it would be the husband or father that would defend and stand up to the oppressor. But God warns against taking advantage of those who seem to be without protector. He himself would take up their cause, and in a twist of irony, would render the same fate on the oppressors as they had done to their victims (i.e., widowhood and fatherlessness upon their families).

Examples of curses “missing the target” in the bible

Perhaps the most well known example of a curse “missing” is in the book of Numbers, in the instance of Balaam being sent to curse Israel. He wasn’t successful because he was only being sent by Balak to curse the people out of fear and envy, and it wasn’t for any wrongdoing that Israel had done to them. It was baseless, and didn’t “land.”

This is perfectly encapsulated in Balaam’s comment on the occasion. “Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?” (Numbers 23:7-8).

One last example is very helpful as well. After David had sinned with Bathsheba, it brought trouble on his house (see 2 Sam 12:10-11), and this eventually came to pass in the events of his son Absalom seeking to steal the throne from his father.

In the midst of David’s fleeing, a man named Shimei came out and bitterly cursed king David. Even though David was being punished for his guilt with Bathsheba, he was innocent of the accusations that Shimei leveled against him, and Shimei was clearly just bitter because he was a relative of Saul and was envious against David for becoming king. In this sense, his curse didn’t land either.

Curses: a double-edged sword

But there’s a scary detail about curses: when you look at the verse describing how they are like a bird not finding a place to land—I think of Noah’s ark. If there’s no place to land outside the ark, where do they go? They’re like letters that get stamped with “RETURN TO SENDER.” Like the proverb “whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein…” (Pro 26:27).

So if we curse someone without cause, we are really bringing these very same pronouncements upon ourselves! Likewise, if someone calls forth a baseless curse upon us, much like Shimei did to David, the Bible says that the curse won’t land, and may be an occasion of further condemnation of the sender of the curse. “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.” (Philippians 1:27-28).

But what about the times when someone truly has wronged us? In these causes, I believe there really is power in Jesus’ words “love your enemies” and what Paul enumerates all the more clearly: “bless them which persecute you, bless, and curse not.”

In these circumstances, we could rightly curse someone, and have it land. But we should instead bless them. Paul knew this very well, he was “blessed” by Stephen.

I see it as a blessing and cursing spectrum, with the accompanying power-level for each circumstance.