Blessing/Cursing in Job 1–2 The Hebrew text of Job 1:5 has the word “bless” (bārak), not “curse,” as most English translations imply. A literal translation would be “It may be that my children have sinned and blessed God in their hearts.” Virtually all translations (e.g., NRSV, REB, NAB, TEV, NJPS) and commentators have assumed that the verb bārak is used euphemistically in place of a word for “curse” (presumably qālal). The conventional reasoning behind this translation is that the original author