“Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your head or clip off the edge of your beard.
- KJV Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
- BSB You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
- ESV You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar 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.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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 21:5“‘They shall not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards or make any cuttings in their flesh.
- Deut 14:1You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
- Ezek 44:20Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.
- Jer 48:37For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
- Isa 15:2They 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 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;
- 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.
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.