Leviticus 21:5

Wycliffe Bible

Preestis schulen not schaue the heed, nether beerd, nether thei schulen make keruyngis in her fleischis; thei schulen be hooli to her God,

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

King James Version
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.

Lexham English Bible
"‘And they shall not shave bald patches on their head, and they shall not shave off the corner of their beard, and they shall not make a cut in their body.

New Century Version
"‘Priests must not shave their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or cut their bodies.

New English Translation
Priests must not have a bald spot shaved on their head, they must not shave the corner of their beard, and they must not cut slashes in their body.

Amplified Bible
'The priests shall not shave their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their body.

New American Standard Bible
'They shall not shave any area on their heads bald, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh.

Geneva Bible (1587)
They shall not make balde partes vpon their head, nor shaue off the locks of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

Legacy Standard Bible
They shall not make any baldness on their heads nor shave off the edges of their beards nor make any cuts in their flesh.

Contemporary English Version
Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning.

Complete Jewish Bible
Cohanim are not to make bald spots on their heads, mar the edges of their beards or cut gashes in their flesh.

Darby Translation
They shall not make any baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Priests must not shave their heads bald. They must not shave off the edges of their beards. They must not make any cuts in their bodies.

English Standard Version
They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body.

George Lamsa Translation
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.

Good News Translation
"No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning.

Christian Standard Bible®
“Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.

Literal Translation
they shall not make their heads bald, and they shall not shave the corner of their beard; and they shall not make a cutting in their flesh;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He shall make no crowne also vpon his heade, ner shaue of his beerd, nether shall they cut out eny markes i their fleshe.

American Standard Version
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.

Bible in Basic English
They are not to have their hair cut off for the dead, or the hair on their chins cut short, or make cuts in their flesh.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Let them not make baldnesse vpon their head, nor shaue of ye lockes of their bearde, nor make any cuttinges in their fleshe.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

King James Version (1611)
They shall not make baldnesse vpon their head, neither shall they shaue off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And ye shall not shave your head for the dead with a baldness on the top; and they shall not shave their beard, neither shall they make gashes on their flesh.

English Revised Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.

Young's Literal Translation
they do not make baldness on their head, and the corner of their beard they do not shave, and in their flesh they do not make a cutting;

Update Bible Version
They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

New King James Version
"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.

New Living Translation
"The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies.

New Life Bible
They should not cut all the hair from any part on their heads, or cut part of the hair off their face, or make cuts in their flesh.

New Revised Standard
They shall not make bald spots upon their heads, or shave off the edges of their beards, or make any gashes in their flesh.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They shall not make a baldness behind in their head, And the border of their beard, shall they not cut off, - And, in their flesh, shall they not make incisions.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Neither shall they shave their head, nor their beard, nor make incisions in their flesh.

Revised Standard Version
They shall not make tonsures upon their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

THE MESSAGE
"Priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or gash their bodies. They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because their job is to present the gifts of God , the food of their God, they are to be holy.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'They shall not make any baldness on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh.

Contextual Overview

¹ And the Lord seide to Moyses, Speke thou to preestis, the sones of Aaron, and thou schalt seie to hem, A preest be not defoulid in the deed men of hise citeseyns, ² no but oneli in kynesmen and niy of blood, that is, on fadir and modir, and sone and douyter, ³ and brother and sister, virgyn, which is not weddid to man; ⁴ but nether he schal be defoulid in the prince of his puple. ⁵ Preestis schulen not schaue the heed, nether beerd, nether thei schulen make keruyngis in her fleischis; thei schulen be hooli to her God, ⁶ and thei schulen not defoule his name; for thei offren encense of the Lord, and the looues of her God, and therfore thei schulen be hooli. ⁷ A preest schal not wedde a wijf a corrupt womman, and a `foul hoore, nether he schal wedde `hir that is forsakun of the hosebonde, for he is halewid to his God, ⁸ and offrith the looues of settyng forth; therfor be he hooly, for `Y am the hooli Lord that halewith you. <sup>9</sup> If the `doutir of a preest is takun in defoulyng of virgynite, and defoulith the name of hir fadir, sche schal be brent in flawmes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

not make baldness: This custom is also called rounding the corners of the head - Leviticus 19:27, and seems to have been performed in honour of some idol. Leviticus 10:6, Leviticus 19:27, Leviticus 19:28, Deuteronomy 14:1, Isaiah 15:2, Isaiah 22:12, Jeremiah 16:6, Jeremiah 48:37, Ezekiel 44:20, Amos 8:10, Micah 1:16

the corner: The Hebrew peath zakon, may denote the whiskers; as the Syriac phatho signifies. These are by the Arabs, according to Niebuhr, still cut entirely off, or worn quite short; and hence they are called by Jeremiah, קצוצי פאה, those with cropped whiskers. Perhaps some superstition, of which we are ignorant, was connected with this; but whether or not, it was the object of Moses to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations.

Reciprocal: Ezra 9:3 - off Jeremiah 9:26 - in the utmost corners Jeremiah 47:5 - how Ezekiel 5:1 - take Ezekiel 27:31 - they shall make

Cross-References

Genesis 17:1
Forsothe aftir that Abram bigan to be of nynti yeer and nyne, the Lord apperide to hym, and seide to him, Y am Almyyti God; go thou bifore me, and be thou perfit;

Genesis 17:17
Abraham felde doun on his face, and leiyede in his hert, and seide, Gessist thou, whethir a sone schal be borun to a man of an hundrid yeer, and Sara of nynti yeer schal bere child?

Romans 4:19
And he was not maad vnstidfast in the bileue, nether he biheelde his bodi thanne nyy deed, whanne he was almost of an hundrid yeer, ne the wombe of Sare nyy deed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They shall not make baldness upon their head,.... For the dead, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom; not shave their heads, or round the corners of them, or make baldness between their eyes on that account; as those things were forbid the Israelites, so the priests also; this and what follow being superstitious customs used among the Heathens in their mournings for the dead, particularly by the Chaldeans, as Aben Ezra observes; and so by the Grecians; when Hephestion, one of Alexander's captains, died, he shaved his soldiers and himself, imitating Achilles in Homer t; so the Egyptians, mourning for the loss of Osiris, annually shaved their heads u; and the priests of Isis, mourning for her lost son, are called by Minutius Felix w her bald priests; see Leviticus 19:27;

neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard: the five corners of it; Leviticus 19:27- :. This the Israelites in common might not do, and particularly their priests; though the Egyptian priests shaved both their heads and beards, as Herodotus x relates: and so they are represented in the Table of Isis y:

nor make any cuttings in their flesh; either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and breasts, or with an instrument cutting their flesh in any part of their bodies, as was the custom of Heathen nations; such were made by the Egyptians in their mournings z;

Leviticus 19:27- :.

t Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 7. c. 8. u Julius Firmicus de Error. Proph. p. 2. w In Octavio, p. 22. Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21. x Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 36. y Vid. Pignorii Mens. Isiac. liter. S. z Julius Firmicus, ut supra. (u)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Leviticus 21:5. They 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 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?