John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 2. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying , etc.] As a bird, particularly the sparrow, as the word is sometimes rendered, leaves its nest and wanders from it; and flies here and there, and settles nowhere; and as the swallow flies to the place from whence it came; or the wild pigeon, as some think is meant, which flies away very swiftly: the swallow has its name in Hebrew from liberty, because it flies about boldly and freely, and makes its nest in houses, to which it goes and comes without fear; so the curse causeless shall not come ; the mouths of fools or wicked men are full of cursing and bitterness, and especially such who are advanced above others, and are set in high places; who think they have a right to swear at and curse those below them, and by this means to support their authority and power; but what signify their curses which are without a cause? they are vain and fruitless, like Shimei’s cursing David; they fly away, as the above birds are said to do, and fly over the heads of those on whom they are designed to light; yea, return and fall upon the heads of those that curse, as the swallow goes to the place from whence it came; it being a bird of passage, ( Jeremiah 8:7); in the winter it flies away and betakes itself to some islands on rocks called from thence “chelidonian” f708 .
According to the “Keri”, or marginal reading, for here is a double reading, it may be rendered, “so the curse causeless shall come to him” f709 ; that gives it without any reason. The Septuagint takes in both, “so a vain curse shall not come upon any;” what are all the anathemas of the church of Rome? who can curse whom God has not cursed? yea, such shall be cursed themselves; see ( <19A917> Psalm 109:17).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 2 - He that is cursed without cause, the curse shall do him no more har than the bird that flies over his head.
Original Hebrew כצפור6833 לנוד5110 כדרור1866 לעוף5774 כן3651 קללת7045 חנם2600 לא3808 תבא׃935
