Curses and Blessings

Blessings are far more common than curses in Scripture, appearing 463 times compared with 195 curses. But the numbers are not spread evenly. Some books are packed with them, while others barely mention either. Explore the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and see where blessings and curses appear most densely, book by book. The visualization makes it easy to spot the books where these themes are especially concentrated, and the surprising outliers along the way.

Density by book

Four short chapters, but Malachi has the highest concentration of curses in the Bible. Only four books are denser with blessings. See which books stand out once their different lengths are taken into account.

Old Testament

New Testament

Across the whole Bible

Plot every blessing and curse from Genesis to Revelation and the pattern starts to emerge. Long stretches go almost untouched, while certain passages become dense clusters, especially Deuteronomy 27-28 and the Beatitudes. Esther stands apart completely, with neither appearing anywhere in its ten chapters.

Old Testament

New Testament

Every verse

Reference	Kind	Verse
Genesis 1:22	Blessing	And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
Genesis 1:28	Blessing	And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis 2:3	Blessing	And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Genesis 3:14	Curse	And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Genesis 3:17	Curse	And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Genesis 4:11	Curse	And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
Genesis 5:2	Blessing	Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Genesis 5:29	Curse	And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.
Genesis 8:21	Curse	And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
Genesis 9:1	Blessing	And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
Genesis 9:25	Curse	And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Genesis 9:26	Blessing	And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Genesis 12:2	Blessing	And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Genesis 12:3	Both	And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Genesis 14:19	Blessing	And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
Genesis 14:20	Blessing	And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
Genesis 17:16	Blessing	And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Genesis 17:20	Blessing	And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Genesis 18:18	Blessing	Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Genesis 22:17	Blessing	That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Genesis 22:18	Blessing	And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Genesis 24:1	Blessing	And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Genesis 24:27	Blessing	And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren.
Genesis 24:31	Blessing	And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
Genesis 24:35	Blessing	And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.

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