Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.
- BSB You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
- NKJV You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.
- NASB You shall not round off the hairline of your heads, nor trim the edges of your beard.
- NLT “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.
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
Israel was not to trim the hair and beard in the distinctive ways associated with pagan mourning or idolatrous rites. God's people were to be visibly set apart from the surrounding nations.
Overview
These grooming practices were likely tied to Canaanite mourning customs or cultic devotion to false gods. Rather than a timeless rule about hairstyles, the command marks Israel as holy and distinct in everyday appearance. The deeper principle endures: God's people are not to imitate the world's religious customs but to bear a holiness that sets them apart.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 21:5They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
- Deut 14:1Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Ezek 44:20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
- Jer 48:37For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
- Isa 15:2He 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 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:
- 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:27 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.