Leviticus 19:28
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You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Holiness of Behaviour Towards God and Man. - However manifold the commandments, which are grouped together rather according to a loose association of ideas than according to any logical arrangement, they are all linked together by the common purpose expressed in Lev 19:2 in the words, "Ye shall be holy, for I am holy, Jehovah your God." The absence of any strictly logical arrangement is to be explained chiefly from the nature of the object, and the great variety of circumstances occurring in life which no casuistry can fully exhaust, so that any attempt to throw light upon these relations must consist more or less of the description of a series of concrete events.
Open source ↗Some ceremonial precepts there are in this chapter, but most of them are moral. One would wonder that when some of the lighter matters of the law are greatly enlarged upon (witness two long chapters concerning the leprosy) many of the weightier matters are put into a little compass: divers of the single verses of this chapter contain whole laws concerning judgment and mercy; for these are things which are manifest in every man's conscience; men's own thoughts are able to explain these, and to comment upon them. I. The laws of this chapter, which were peculiar to the Jews, are, 1. Concerning their peace-offerings (Lev 19:5-8). 2. Concerning the gleanings of their fields (Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10). 3. Against mixtures of their cattle, seed, and cloth (Lev 19:19). 4. Concerning their trees (Lev 19:23-25). 5. Against some superstitious usages (Lev 19:26-28). But, II. Most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are expositions of most of the ten commandments. 1. Here is the preface to the ten commandments, "I am the Lord," repeated fifteen times. 2. A sum of the ten commandments. All the first table in this, "Be you holy," (Lev 19:2). All the second table in this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour" (Lev 19:18), and an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" (Lev 19:33, Lev 19:34). 3. Something of each commandment. (1.) The first commandment implied in that which is often repeated here, "I am your God." And here is a prohibition of enchantment (Lev 19:26) and witchcraft (Lev 19:31), which make a god of the devil. (2.) Idolatry, against the second commandment, is forbidden, (Lev 19:4). (3.) Profanation of God's name, against the third (Lev 19:12). (4.) Sabbath-sanctification is pressed (Lev 19:3, Lev 19:30). (5.) Children are required to honour their parents (Lev 19:3),…
Open source ↗19:28 cut your bodies: Cutting oneself was associated with Canaanite mourning practices (21:5; Deut 14:1). The word translated tattoo might refer to painting the body, a practice also associated with paganism.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them.
Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
Then 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,
“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.
For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.
Night and day in the tombs and in the mountains he kept crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. And they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God,
So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.