Leviticus 19:28
in Leviticus 19You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am Jehovah.
KJV
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
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This verse in Leviticus 19
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAny cuttings in your flesh for the dead - That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, etc., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido “tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists.” “Unguibus ora soror foedans, et pectora pugnis.” Aen., l. iv., ver. 6
This site's exposition
Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood
on Leviticus 19:26-28
These three verses forbid the practices of the nations around Israel in eating, in divination and in mourning. The same Hebrew word stands behind the corner of the field in verse 9 and the corner of the head in verse 27, so a farmer leaves the edge of his crop standing for the poor and leaves the edge of his hair alone. Cuttings in the flesh and marks printed on it are both tied here to the dead, and cutting of that kind is what the prophets of Baal practise at 1 Kings 18:28. Deuteronomy 14:1 repeats the prohibition and grounds it in sonship, that ye are the children of the LORD your God, while Leviticus gives no reason beyond I am the LORD.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Eating upon the blood, as the Gentiles did, who gathered the blood of their sacrifices into a vessel for their demons (as they fancied) to drink, and then sat about it, eating the flesh themselves, signifying their communion with devils by their feasting with them.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,.... Either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and other parts, or with any instrument, knife, razor, &c.
Most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are expositions of most of the ten commandments. Here is the preface to the ten commandments, "I am the Lord," repeated fifteen times.
Christ by his sufferings has altered the property of death, and made it a true friend to every true Israelite; and now, as there needs nothing to make death propitious to us (for, if God be so, death is so of course), so we sorrow not as those that have no hope.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
41:5). nor print any marks upon you--by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשֶׂ֣רֶט | veseret | and cut[s] | H8296 → | |
| לָנֶ֗פֶשׁ | lanefesh | for a corpse | H5315 → | 754 times |
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִתְּנוּ֙ | titenu | you will make | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| בִּבְשַׂרְכֶ֔ם | bivsarkhem | in flesh your | H1320 → | 270 times |
| וּכְתֹ֣בֶת | ukhetoet | and [the] inscription of | H3793 → | |
| קַֽעֲקַ֔ע | kaaka' | an incision | H7085 → | |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִתְּנ֖וּ | titenu | you will make | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| בָּכֶ֑ם | bakhem | in <the> yourselves | ||
| אֲנִ֖י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְשֶׂ֣רֶטand cut[s]
veseretH8296 →
לָנֶ֗פֶשׁfor a corpse
lanefeshH5315 →754 times
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִתְּנוּ֙you will make
titenuH5414 →2011 times
בִּבְשַׂרְכֶ֔םin flesh your
bivsarkhemH1320 →270 times
וּכְתֹ֣בֶתand [the] inscription of
ukhetoetH3793 →
קַֽעֲקַ֔עan incision
kaaka'H7085 →
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִתְּנ֖וּyou will make
titenuH5414 →2011 times
בָּכֶ֑םin <the> yourselves
bakhem
אֲנִ֖יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָֽה׃[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 21:5Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 14:1
You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 44:20
They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.
- Deuteronomy 14:1
Through
Deuteronomy 14:1You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
it leads to
- Jeremiah 41:5
eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, carrying grain offerings and frankincense for the house of the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Galatians 3:26
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Romans 9:8
So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
- Leviticus 21:5
Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
- Jeremiah 41:5
Through
Leviticus 21:1Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them that a priest is not to defile himself for a dead person among his people,
it leads to
- Ezekiel 44:25
A priest must not defile himself by going near a dead person. However, for a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a brother, or an unmarried sister, he may do so,
- Ezekiel 44:25
Through
Jeremiah 16:6“Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
it leads to
- Isaiah 22:12
On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 22:12
Where this verse is studied
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.