Exodus 22:28
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
You shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people.
American King James Version (AKJV)
You shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
You may not say evil of the judges, or put a curse on the ruler of your people.
Webster's Revision
Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
World English Bible
"You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Thou shalt not revile God, nor curse a ruler of thy people.
Definitions for Exodus 22:28
Clarke's Exodus 22:28 Bible Commentary
Thou shalt not revile the gods - Most commentators believe that the word gods here means magistrates. The original is אלהים Elohim, and should be understood of the true God only: Thou shalt not blaspheme or make light of [תקלל tekallel] God, the fountain of justice and power, nor curse the ruler of thy people, who derives his authority from God. We shall ever find that he who despises a good civil government, and is disaffected to that under which he lives, is one who has little fear of God before his eyes. The spirit of disaffection and sedition is ever opposed to the religion of the Bible. When those who have been pious get under the spirit of misrule, they infallibly get shorn of their spiritual strength, and become like salt that has lost its savor. He who can indulge himself in speaking evil of the civil ruler, will soon learn to blaspheme God. The highest authority says, Fear God: honor the king.
Barnes's Exodus 22:28 Bible Commentary
The gods - Heb. אלהים 'ělôhı̂ym. See Exodus 21:6 note. Many take it as the name of God (as in Genesis 1:1), and this certainly seems best to represent the Hebrew, and to suit the context.
Curse the ruler ... - See Acts 23:5.
Wesley's Exodus 22:28 Bible Commentary
22:28 Thou shalt not revile the gods - That is, the judges and magistrates. Princes and magistrates are our fathers, whom the fifth commandment obligeth us to honour, and forbids us to revile. St. Paul applies this law to himself, and owns that he ought not to speak evil of the ruler of his people, no, not though he was then his most unrighteous persecutor, Acts 23:5.