Whoso curseth his father or his mother,.... This is dreadful indeed! a person must be got to a great pitch of wickedness to do this; to curse his parents, one or other of them, that have been the instruments of his being, and by whom he has been brought up and put out into the world; to slight them, despise them, and mock at them, is highly base and criminal, but to curse them is shocking! what can such expect but the curse of God upon them? his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness; he shall be deprived of his natural sight; see Pro 30:17; or the very light of nature shall be extinct in him; and indeed such an one acts as if not guided by it, nor under its influence; or whatsoever favour from the Lord he has enjoyed, it shall be taken from him; his lamp or candle of outward felicity shall be quenched, and burn no longer; see Job 18:5; or his soul, the candle of the Lord, in him, Pro 20:27; shall be removed; or he "shall die", not only a corporeal but an eternal death; see Exo 21:17; "blackness of darkness" (h) as the words may be rendered, are reserved for him in the world to come, and which will be his portion, Jde 1:13. (h) "in obscuritate tenebrarum", Pagninus, Mercerus; "in nigredine tenebrarum", Michaelis.