The basic idea of curse
is to be banished from the place of blessing.1 If to bless is to put someone under God’s protection and favour, curse is then to remove someone from the same. A better English translation of the Hebrew might be the word damn,
since the desire is for someone to be eternally removed from all that is good.2 Thus, when the Lord pronounced a curse he bound those addressed under his wrath and removed them from the sphere of blessing.3
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.