God’s Word Translation
Leviticus 19:27
27“Never shave the hair on your foreheads, and never cut the edges of your beard.
Leviticus 19:27 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
- English Standard Version (ESV)You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
- New King James Version (NKJV)You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.
Context of Leviticus 19:27
25In the fifth year you may eat the fruit. Do this to make the trees produce more for you. I am the Lord your God. 26“Never eat any meat with blood still in it. “Never cast evil spells, and never consult fortunetellers. “Never shave the hair on your foreheads, and never cut the edges of your beard. 28Never slash your body to mourn the dead, and never get a tattoo. I am the Lord. 29“Never dishonor your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the country will turn to prostitution and be filled with people who are perverted.
Read all of Leviticus 19Leviticus 19:27 word by word
לֹ֣א תַקִּ֔פוּ פְּאַ֖ת רֹאשְׁכֶ֑ם וְלֹ֣א תַשְׁחִ֔ית אֵ֖ת פְּאַ֥ת זְקָנֶֽךָ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Leviticus 19:27
- Leviticus 21:5“You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies.
- Isaiah 15:2The people of Dibon go to the temple, to the worship sites, to cry. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved bald, and every beard is cut off.
- Jeremiah 16:6“Old and young alike will die in this land. No one will mourn for them or bury them. No one will cut his own body or shave his own head for them.
- Jeremiah 48:37“Every head is shaved, and every beard is cut off. There are gashes on every hand and sackcloth on every waist.
- Ezekiel 7:18They will put on sackcloth, and horror will cover them. All their faces will be covered with shame, and every head will be shaved.
- Ezekiel 44:20“ ‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. They must keep the hair on their heads trimmed.
Commentaries on Leviticus 19:27
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 27Ye shall not round the corners your heads - This and the following verse evidently refer to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians when the Israelites sojourned in Egypt; and what they were it is now difficult, even with any probability, to conjecture. Herodotus observes that the Arabs shave or cut their hair round, in honor of Bacchus, who, they say, had his hair cut in this way, lib. iii., cap. 8. He says also that the Macians, a people of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 26-28Verses 26-28 Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic, are here grouped together. The prohibition to eat anything with the blood may indeed refer to the eating of meat which had not been properly bled in slaughtering (Leviticus 7:26; Leviticus 17:10, etc.): but it is not improbable that there may be a special reference to some sort of magical or idolatrous rites. Compare Ezekiel 33:25. Leviticus 19:26 Observe times - It is not clear…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 27do not clip off: Egyptian wall paintings show that Canaanites trimmed their hair and beards carefully. The Israelites were told not to copy this practice so that they would not be influenced by Canaanite religion and ethics.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2727. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, &c.--It seems probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning; and it was adopted, with some slight…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 19:27
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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