3611. 'And now, my son, hearken to my voice, and arise' means a continuance. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearkening to the voice' as obeying, that is to say, he was to continue in that inverted state, to be dealt with in what follows below.

The Lord is love itself, and his love for us never wavers and never changes. What does waver and change is the degree to which we accept and respond to the Lord's love. So the Lord does not curse us; we curse ourselves by turning away from Him. So when the Bible talks of a "curse" or something being "cursed," it is talking about people turning away from the Lord and creating a separation. Among the most famous curses is that pronounced on the serpent after it beguiled Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden. The serpent represents our tendency to rely on our own senses for knowledge instead of the Lord. That tendency caused the people of the Lord's first, most innocent church to turn away from His guidance, cursing themselves.