Jeremiah 7:29

7:29 So, mourn, ¹  you people of this nation. ²  Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject ³  and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!’” ⁴ 

Jeremiah 41:5

41:5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. ⁵  They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves to show they were mourning. ⁶  They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 47:5

47:5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning.

The people of Ashkelon will be struck dumb.

How long will you gash yourselves to show your sorrow, ⁸ 

you who remain of Philistia’s power? ⁹ 

Jeremiah 48:37

48:37 For all of them will shave their heads in mourning.

They will all cut off their beards to show their sorrow.

They will all make gashes in their hands.

They will all put on sackcloth. ¹⁰ 

Leviticus 19:28

19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person ¹¹  or incise a tattoo on yourself. ¹²  I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 14:1

The Holy and the Profane

14:1 You are children ¹³  of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald ¹⁴  for the sake of the dead.

Isaiah 22:12

22:12 At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,

for shaved heads and sackcloth. ¹⁵ 

[7:29]  ¹ tn The word “mourn” is not in the text. It is supplied in the translation for clarity to explain the significance of the words “Cut your hair and throw it away.”

[7:29]  ² tn The words, “you people of this nation” are not in the text. Many English versions supply, “Jerusalem.” The address shifts from second masculine singular addressing Jeremiah (vv. 27-28a) to second feminine singular. It causes less disruption in the flow of the context to see the nation as a whole addressed here as a feminine singular entity (as, e.g., in 2:19, 23; 3:2, 3; 6:26) than to introduce a new entity, Jerusalem.

[7:29]  ³ tn The verbs here are the Hebrew scheduling perfects. For this use of the perfect see GKC 312 §106.m.

[7:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “the generation of his wrath.”

[41:5]  ⁵ sn Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria were all cities in the northern kingdom of Israel with important religious and political histories. When Israel was destroyed in 722 b.c., some of the Israelites had been left behind and some of the Judeans had taken up residence in these northern cities. People residing there had participated in the reforms of Hezekiah (2 Chr 30:11) and Josiah (2 Chr 34:9) and were evidently still faithfully following the Jewish calendar. They would have been on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish New Year and the Feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:34).

[41:5]  ⁶ tn The words “to show they were mourning” are not in the text but are implicit in the acts. They are supplied in the translation for clarification for readers who may not be familiar with ancient mourning customs.

[41:5]  ⁷ tn The words “in Jerusalem” are not in the text but are implicit. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[47:5]  ⁸ sn Shaving one’s head and gashing one’s body were customs to show mourning or sadness for the dead (cf. Deut 14:1; Mic 1:16; Ezek 27:31; Jer 16:6; 48:37).

[47:5]  ⁹ tn Or “you who are left alive on the Philistine plain.” Or “you who remain of the Anakim.” The translation follows the suggestion of several of the modern commentaries that the word עֵמֶק (’emeq) means “strength” or “power” here (see J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 698; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 310; and see also HALOT 803 s.v. II עֵמֶק). It is a rare homonym of the word that normally means “valley” that seems to be an inappropriate designation of the Philistine plain. Many of the modern English versions and commentaries follow the Greek version which reads here “remnant of the Anakim” (עֲנָקִים [’anaqim] instead of עִמְקָם [’imqam], a confusion of basically one letter). This emendation is followed by both BDB 771 s.v. עֵמֶק and KBL 716 s.v. עֵמֶק. The Anakim were generally associated with the southern region around Hebron but an enclave of them was known to have settled in Gaza, Gath, and Ekron, three of the Philistine cities (cf. Josh 11:22). However, the fact that this judgment is directed against the Philistines not the Anakim and that this homonym apparently appears also in Jer 49:4 makes the reading of “power” more likely here.

[48:37]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “upon every loin [there is] sackcloth.” The word “all” is restored here before “loin” with a number of Hebrew mss and a number of versions. The words “in mourning” and “to show their sorrow” are not in the text. They have been supplied in the translation to give the average reader some idea of the significance of these acts.

[19:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “And slash for the soul you shall not give.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul, person, life”) can sometimes refer to a “dead person” (cf. Lev 21:1, 5; 22:5). See J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 306, 320-21.

[19:28]  ¹² tn Heb “and a writing of incision you shall not give in you.”

[14:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”

[14:1]  ¹⁴ sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.

[22:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.” See the note at 15:2.