Curses: Myth or Reality?

When people hear the word curse, they often think of fairy tales, witches, black magic, voodoo or even superstitions. But the Bible itself has a lot to say about blessings and curse and one striking passage in the book of Numbers shows that curses were absolutely real and taken very seriously in God’s covenant community.

Numbers

In the book of Numbers, Israel is wandering through the desert after leaving Egypt, learning to live as God’s chosen people. During that time laws were given not only for worship and community life but also for deeply personal situations for a married couple. Numbers 5:11–31 describes what happens when a husband is overcome with jealousy ot suspects his wife of unfaithfulness but has no proof.

This ritual is sometimes called “the trial of bitter water.” It is one of the clearest biblical examples where a curse is directly invoked under God’s authority.

The Ritual of the Bitter Water

The process was highly symbolic:

1. The priest would mix holy water with dust from the tabernacle floor.

2. The woman would loosen her hair as a sign of humility.

3. An oath was spoken aloud—if she was guilty, she would suffer the effects of the curse; if she was innocent, she would be unharmed.

4. The priest would write down the curse, wash the ink into the water, and the woman would drink it.

The text says:

¹¹ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

¹² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

¹³ And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;

¹⁴ And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

¹⁵ Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord:

¹⁷ And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:

¹⁸ And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:

¹⁹ And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:

²⁰ But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:

²¹ Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;

²² And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

²³ And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

²⁴ And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

²⁵ Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar:

²⁶ And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

²⁷ And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

²⁸ And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

²⁹ This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

³⁰ Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

³¹ Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

(Holy Bible, King James Version)

What This Shows About Curses

Unlike modern superstition, this wasn’t about human magic or manipulation. The curse here was a solemn declaration before God. Its power depended entirely on His judgment.

This reveals a few important truths:

Curses were real in the biblical worldview. They were not seen as empty words but as binding oaths that invited divine enforcement.

God was the one who determined the outcome. If the woman was innocent, the curse had no effect. If she was guilty, the curse was fulfilled by God’s hand.

Curses carried moral weight. They weren’t casual insults but a spiritual mechanism for justice in the absence of human evidence.

Let us know what your take is on the subject!

The Bigger Picture of Blessings and Curses

The ritual in Numbers 5 fits into a larger biblical theme. Throughout Scripture, blessings and curses function as covenantal realities. In Deuteronomy 28, for example, Israel is told that obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings curses. Proverbs also acknowledges the reality of undeserved curses, saying: “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Proverbs 26:2).

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ takes the weight of the curse on Himself: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). This means that for believers, the ultimate power of any curse has been broken at the cross.

Conclusion

Numbers 5 shows that curses were more than just cultural superstition—they were taken seriously as real, divinely governed realities. But while the Old Testament reveals their seriousness, the New Testament shows God’s ultimate plan: to free us from the curse of sin through Christ.

So, are curses real? Biblically, yes. But for those who belong to Jesus, the final word is not curse, but blessing.