Leviticus 21:5
in Leviticus 21Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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.
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.
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This verse in Leviticus 21
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
These 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 1Co 15:54-57, and it would therefore have been unsuitable that they should have the same freedom as other people to become mourners.
This site's exposition
They shall not make baldness upon their head
on Leviticus 21:5-9
The mourning customs forbidden here, a shaved head, a cut beard and cuttings in the flesh, were already forbidden to all Israel at 19:27-28, so the priest carries a rule his neighbours carry too. Verses 7 to 9 then reach into his house and govern whom he marries and what his daughter does. The penalty at verse 9 falls on a woman who never serves at the altar, and the ground the verse gives is that she profaneth her father. The word profane falls nine times in these twenty-four verses and holds the chapter together.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
13 ), and therefore they ought to be eminently calm and composed, that they may be able to comfort others with the same comforts wherewith they are themselves comforted of God. The people were forbidden to mourn for the dead with superstitious rites ( ch. xix. 27, 28 ), and what was unlawful to them was much more unlawful to the priest.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
They shall not make baldness - In funerals, as the Heathens did. Though I allow them to defile themselves for some of the dead, yet in no case shall they use these superstitious rites, which also the people were forbidden to do; but the priests in a more peculiar manner, because they are by word and example to teach the people their duty.
They shall not make baldness upon their head,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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 passions, be the better qualified to administer the consolations of religion to others, and show, by their faith in a blessed resurrection, the reasons for sorrowing not as those who have no hope.
They shall not make baldness - See the note on Lev 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 represented sitting in their temples, with their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and having nothing upon their heads. Every person knows the tonsure of the Catholic priests. Should not this be avoided as an approach to a heathenish custom?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִקְרְח֤וּ | yikrechah | they will make bald | H7139 → | |
| קָרְחָה֙ | karechah | baldness | H7144 → | |
| בְּרֹאשָׁ֔ם | berosham | on head their | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וּפְאַ֥ת | ufeat | and [the] side of | H6285 → | 86 times |
| זְקָנָ֖ם | zekanam | beard their | H2206 → | 19 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְגַלֵּ֑חוּ | yegalechu | they will shave | H1548 → | 23 times |
| וּבִ֨בְשָׂרָ֔ם | uvivsaram | and in flesh their | H1320 → | 270 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִשְׂרְט֖וּ | yisretu | they will cut | H8295 → | |
| שָׂרָֽטֶת׃ | saratet | cut[s] | H8296 → |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִקְרְח֤וּthey will make bald
yikrechahH7139 →
קָרְחָה֙baldness
karechahH7144 →
בְּרֹאשָׁ֔םon head their
beroshamH7218 →599 times
וּפְאַ֥תand [the] side of
ufeatH6285 →86 times
זְקָנָ֖םbeard their
zekanamH2206 →19 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יְגַלֵּ֑חוּthey will shave
yegalechuH1548 →23 times
וּבִ֨בְשָׂרָ֔םand in flesh their
uvivsaramH1320 →270 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִשְׂרְט֖וּthey will cut
yisretuH8295 →
שָׂרָֽטֶת׃cut[s]
saratetH8296 →
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
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
- 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.
- Romans 9:26
and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
- Hebrews 2:10
In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
- John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- Galatians 3:26
Through
Jeremiah 48:37For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.
it leads to
- 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 16:6
Through
Micah 1:16Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.
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.
- Isaiah 22:12
Through
Ezekiel 44:20They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 11:14
Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,
- 1 Corinthians 11:14
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.