Leviticus 19:28

19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person ¹  or incise a tattoo on yourself. ²  I am the Lord.

Deuteronomy 14:1

The Holy and the Profane

14:1 You are children ³  of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald ⁴  for the sake of the dead.

Micah 6:7

6:7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams,

or ten thousand streams of olive oil?

Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,

my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin? ⁵ 

Mark 5:5

5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

Mark 9:22

9:22 It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

[19:28]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and a writing of incision you shall not give in you.”

[14:1]  ³ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”

[14:1]  ⁴ 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.

[6:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person; here “the sin of my soul” = “my sin.”