Revised Version 1895
Leviticus 21:5
5They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
Leviticus 21:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.
- English Standard Version (ESV)They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
Context of Leviticus 21:5
3and for his sister a virgin, that is near unto him, which hath had no husband, for her may he defile himself. 4He shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 6They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. 7They shall not take a woman that is a harlot, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
Read all of Leviticus 21Leviticus 21:5 word by word
לֹֽא־יִקְרְח֤וּ קָרְחָה֙ בְּרֹאשָׁ֔ם וּפְאַ֥ת זְקָנָ֖ם לֹ֣א יְגַלֵּ֑חוּ וּבִ֨בְשָׂרָ֔ם לֹ֥א יִשְׂרְט֖וּ שָׂרָֽטֶת׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Leviticus 21:5
- Leviticus 19:27Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
- Leviticus 10:6And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither rend your clothes; that ye die not, and that he be not wroth with all the congregation: but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD hath kindled.
- Deuteronomy 14:1Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Isaiah 15:2He is gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep: Moab howleth over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off.
- Isaiah 22:12And in that day did the Lord, the LORD of hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
- Jeremiah 16:6Both great and small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
- Jeremiah 48:37For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
- Ezekiel 44:20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
- Amos 8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
- Micah 1:16Make thee bald, and poll thee for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
Commentaries on Leviticus 21:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5They shall not make baldness - See the note on Leviticus 19:27. It is supposed that these things were particularly prohibited, because used superstitiously by the Egyptian priests, who, according to Herodotus, shaved the whole body every third day, that there might be no uncleanness about them when they ministered in their temples. This appears to have been a general custom among the heathen. In the book of Baruch 6:31, the priests of Babylon are…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5These prohibitions given to the people at large (compare the margin reference.) had a special fitness for the Hebrew priests. They were the instruments of the divine will for averting death, all their sacrifices were a type of the death of Christ, which swallowed up death in victory 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, and it would therefore have been unsuitable that they should have the same freedom as other people to become mourners.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5make bald spots … shave off: The laws warned priests not to shave or trim their hair in certain ways (see study notes on Leviticus 10:6; 19:27). make cuts in their bodies: They were also not to cut their bodies (see study note on Leviticus 19:28). Cutting the body was a practice of pagan peoples. Defects disqualified most animals as offerings (Leviticus 22:19–25). A defect also disqualified a priest from serving (see 21:17–23). For example, a eunuch (a…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. They shall not make baldness upon their heads ... nor ... cuttings in their flesh--The superstitious marks of sorrow, as well as the violent excesses in which the heathen indulged at the death of their friends, were forbidden by a general law to the Hebrew people (Le 19:28). But the priests were to be laid under a special injunction, not only that they might exhibit examples of piety in the moderation of their grief, but also by the restraint of their…Read the comment
Topics related to Leviticus 21:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Leviticus 21
- 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
Revised Version 1895 — 1895 — Public Domain
Commentaries