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For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
Jeremiah 48:37 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
  • BSB For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.
  • NKJV “For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped; On all the hands shall be cuts, and on the loins sackcloth—
  • NASB For every head is shaved bald, and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands, and sackcloth around the waists.
  • NLT The people shave their heads and beards in mourning. They slash their hands and put on clothes made of burlap.

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

Every head is shaved, every beard cut, hands gashed, and waists clothed in sackcloth in universal mourning.

Overview

The signs of intense grief, shaved heads, cut beards, lacerations, and sackcloth, cover all of Moab. The whole nation is plunged into mourning rites. This portrait of total grief conveys the depth of loss under judgment, heightening the value of the comfort and hope God extends to the mourning through the gospel.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Gen 37:34Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
  • Jer 47:5Baldness has come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
  • Isa 15:2–3They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
  • Jer 41:5men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to Yahweh’s house.
  • Jer 16:6Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;
  • Isa 20:2at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot.
  • Mic 1:16Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!
  • 1 Kgs 18:28They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
  • Isa 3:24It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
  • 1 Kgs 21:27When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
  • Isa 37:1When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house.
  • Rev 11:3I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
  • Ezek 27:31and they shall make themselves bald for you, and clothe them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.
  • Lev 19:28“‘You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am Yahweh.
  • Mark 5:5Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
  • Ezek 7:18They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
  • Gen 37:29Reuben returned to the pit; and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes.
  • Amos 8:10I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
  • 2 Kgs 6:30When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes. Now he was passing by on the wall, and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth underneath on his body.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 48:37YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.

How Jeremiah 48:37 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.