EXOD737 You shall not curse a judge. This commandment removes from a judge any fear that those who come before him in court may curse him if he rules against them. Not preoccupied by such anxieties, judges can concentrate on understanding the facts of each case clearly and thus arrive at correct rulings. Since there are crude people who are led by their foolishness to hate judges who rule against them, this commandment serves another benefit. If the Torah did not forbid us to curse judges, people of poor character might utter such curses and having done so, they might be stirred to harm the judge in additional ways. The commandment is worded, “You shall not curse Elohim.” Although the references is to judges, included in this command is the Torah prohibition on cursing Hashem, God forbid. The Torah writes explicitly (Vayikra 24:16) that he who curses Hashem shall die. One should not ask, “Since the Torah spells out punishments for various acts, is it not superfluous for the Torah to state that those acts are forbidden?” The answer is: Were the Torah to state only the punishments, people might think that anyone willing to suffer the Torah’s punishments is free to commit the acts and he will not have violated Hashem’s will. In truth, however, the intent here is to prevent such acts from being committed. Therefore, the Torah must write explicitly that the acts are forbidden.