Leviticus 20:9 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

For every one that curseth his father. — Though the administrators of the Law during the second Temple have laid down the most minute regulation with regard to filial obedience (see Leviticus 19:3), and though nothing can exceed the tenderness with which they instilled into the hearts of children the Biblical precepts on this subject (Exodus 20:12), yet they enacted that the child only incurred the penalty of death when he used the ineffable name God when cursing his parent, who was either alive or dead, and that if he used an attribute of the Deity, such as Almighty, the Merciful, &c, he was simply to be beaten with stripes. This will account for the rendering of this passage in the ancient Chaldee Version, “who curseth his father or his mother by the inexpressible name,” i.e., Jehovah.