Leviticus 19:28

World English Bible (2000)

"'You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am Yahweh.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְשֶׂ֣רֶט לָנֶ֗פֶשׁ לֹ֤א תִתְּנוּ֙ בִּבְשַׂרְכֶ֔ם וּכְתֹ֣בֶת קֽ͏ַעֲקַ֔ע לֹ֥א תִתְּנ֖וּ בָּכֶ֑ם אֲנִ֖י יְהוָֽה

Transliteration

wə-śereṭ lanepeš lōʾ ṯittənû biḇśarḵem û-ḵəṯōḇeṯ qaʿăqaʿ lōʾ ṯittənû bāḵem ʾănî YHWH

Grammar Details

• *wə-śereṭ*: conjunction + noun, masculine singular - and cutting
• *lanepeš*: preposition + definite article + noun, feminine singular - for the dead/soul
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *ṯittənû*: Qal imperfect, 2nd masculine plural - you shall make/put
• *biḇśarḵem*: preposition + noun, masculine singular + 2nd masculine plural suffix - in your flesh
• *û-ḵəṯōḇeṯ*: conjunction + noun, feminine singular construct - and writing/marking of
• *qaʿăqaʿ*: noun, masculine singular - tattoo/incision/imprint
• *bāḵem*: preposition + 2nd masculine plural suffix - in you
• *ʾănî*: 1st person singular independent pronoun - I
• *YHWH*: proper noun - the LORD

Word Meanings

• *śereṭ* *lanepeš*: cutting for the dead/incision for a soul/ritual cutting for mourning
• *ḵəṯōḇeṯ* *qaʿăqaʿ*: tattoo marking/permanent writing/indelible inscription

Referenced Verses

• Deut 14:1 : 1 You are the children of Yahweh your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
• 1 Kgs 18:28 : 28 They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
• Jer 16:6 : 6 Both 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;
• Jer 48:37 : 37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.
• Lev 21:5 : 5 "'They shall not shave their heads, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
• Lev 21:1 : 1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'A priest shall not defile himself for the dead among his people;
• Rev 15:2 : 2 I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.
• Rev 16:2 : 2 The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.
• Rev 19:20 : 20 The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
• Rev 20:4 : 4 I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, and didn't receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
• Mark 5:5 : 5 Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
• Rev 13:16-17 : 16 He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; 17 and that no one would be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name.
• Rev 14:9 : 9 Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand,
• Rev 14:11 : 11 The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.