They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
Parallel translations
- WEB They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
- BSB They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.
- NKJV They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads.
- NASB They will put on sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces, and a bald patch on all their heads.
- NLT They will dress themselves in burlap; horror and shame will cover them. They will shave their heads in sorrow and remorse.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They will put on sackcloth, covered with horror, shame on every face and baldness on every head. Universal mourning grips the people.
Overview
The Lord depicts the people clothed in sackcloth and overwhelmed with dread, faces ashamed and heads shaved in grief. These were signs of deep mourning and humiliation. The pervasive shame reflects the bitter harvest of sin, while genuine grief over sin, rightly directed, can become the godly sorrow that leads to repentance and life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Amos 8:10And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.
- Isa 15:2–3He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
- Isa 3:24And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well set hair baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty.
- Job 21:6Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
- Ezek 27:31And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
- Gen 15:12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
- Jer 48:37For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
- Rev 6:15–17And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
- Jer 3:25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
- Ps 35:26Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.
- Ps 55:4–5My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 7:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.