Leviticus 19:28
Context19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person 1 or incise a tattoo on yourself. 2 I am the Lord.
Leviticus 21:5
Context21:5 Priests 3 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. 4


[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.”
[21:5] 3 tn Heb “they”; the referent (priests, see the beginning of v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[21:5] 4 tn Heb “and in their body they shall not [cut] slash[es]” (cf. Lev 19:28). The context connects these sorts of mutilations with mourning rites (cf. Lev 19:27-28 above).