The Meaning of Deuteronomy 27:18 Explained

Deuteronomy 27:18

KJV: Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

YLT: Cursed is he who is causing the blind to err in the way, -- and all the people have said, Amen.

Darby: Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way! And all the people shall say, Amen.

ASV: Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Cursed  [be] he that maketh the blind  to wander  out of the way.  And all the people  shall say,  Amen. 

What does Deuteronomy 27:18 Mean?

Context Summary

Deuteronomy 27:1-26 - Curses Upon Evildoers
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal were two masses of limestone rock, reaching 2700 and 2000 feet above the sea-level. Between them lay a beautiful valley, about 300 yards wide. At the foot and on the lower slopes of Gerizim stood the descendants of Rachel and Leah; on those of Ebal, the descendants of Zilpah and Bilhah, together with Zebulun and with Reuben, who had forfeited the rights of the first-born. The priests and the Levites, grouped beside the Ark in the valley, uttered both the benedictions and the solemn denunciations of the Law, each item eliciting the responsive "Amens."
Notice the sensitiveness of the divine Spirit! To make a blind man wander out of his way and to wrest the judgment of the fatherless, was held to be as reprehensible as to commit those terrible breaches of the law of purity. Nothing in life is insignificant or trivial when weighed in the balance of eternal justice. We can only rejoice when we realize that we are accepted in the Beloved, and that He has stood for us, Romans 3:20; Romans 5:1-3; Romans 5:9. [source]

Chapter Summary: Deuteronomy 27

1  The people are commanded to write the law upon stones
5  and to build an altar of whole stones
11  The tribes to be divided on Gerizim and Ebal
14  The curses to be pronounced on mount Ebal

What do the individual words in Deuteronomy 27:18 mean?

Cursed [is] wander he who lets a blind man in the road And shall say all the people Amen -
אָר֕וּר מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה עִוֵּ֖ר בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ וְאָמַ֥ר כָּל־ הָעָ֖ם אָמֵֽן ס

אָר֕וּר  Cursed  [is] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine singular
Root: אָרַר  
Sense: to curse.
מַשְׁגֶּ֥ה  wander 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: שָׁגָה  
Sense: to go astray, stray, err.
עִוֵּ֖ר  he  who  lets  a  blind  man 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: עִוֵּר  
Sense: blind.
בַּדָּ֑רֶךְ  in  the  road 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, common singular
Root: דֶּרֶךְ  
Sense: way, road, distance, journey, manner.
וְאָמַ֥ר  And  shall  say 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
הָעָ֖ם  the  people 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
אָמֵֽן  Amen 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אָמֵן  
Sense: verily, truly, amen, so be it.
ס  - 
Parse: Punctuation