For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
Parallel translations
- WEB For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
- 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 37:34And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
- Jer 47:5Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
- 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.
- Jer 41:5That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.
- Jer 16:6Both the great and the 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 the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.
- Mic 1:16Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
- 1 Kgs 18:28And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
- 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.
- 1 Kgs 21:27And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
- Isa 37:1And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
- Rev 11:3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
- 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.
- Lev 19:28Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
- Mark 5:5And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
- Ezek 7:18They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
- Gen 37:29And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
- 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.
- 2 Kgs 6:30And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
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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
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