Reference: Baldness
Easton
from natural causes was uncommon (2Ki 2:23; Isa 3:24). It was included apparently under "scab" and "scurf," which disqualified for the priesthood (Le 21:20). The Egyptians were rarely subject to it. This probably arose from their custom of constantly shaving the head, only allowing the hair to grow as a sign of mourning. With the Jews artificial baldness was a sign of mourning (Isa 22:12; Jer 7:29; 16:6); it also marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow (Ac 18:18; 21:24; Nu 6:9). It is often alluded to (Mic 1:16; Am 8:10; Jer 47:5). The Jews were forbidden to follow the customs of surrounding nations in making themselves bald (De 14:1).
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Or is a hunchback, or a dwarf, or has a defect in his eye, or has scurvy or itch, or scabs or skin trouble, or has damaged testicles.
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead,
He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!
And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
And in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping and mourning, to the shaving off of all your hair [in humiliation] and to the girding with sackcloth.
Cut off your hair [your crown, O Jerusalem] and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them.
Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and be dumb. O remnant of their valley and of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]?
And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [ Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.
Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses [for the temple offering], so that they may have their heads shaved. Thus everybody will know that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk in observance of the Law.
Fausets
Rare among Israelites; so an object of derision, as Elisha's was. to the children: 2Ki 2:23, "Go up thou baldhead," i.e., thou art old enough to leave this world and "go up" to heaven after thy master. A humiliation to captives (De 21:12; Isa 3:24). A mark of mourning (Jer 16:6; 47:5; Eze 7:18; Isa 15:2). It was sometimes a mark of leprosy: Le 13:40-42. Priests were forbidden to make baldness on their heads, or to shave off the grainers of their beards (Le 21:5; Eze 44:20); as mourners and idol priests did. (Jer 9:26 margin; Le 19:27).
The reason Israel was forbidden to do so was, "for thou art an holy people unto the Lord" (De 14:1-2). Nebuchadnezzar's army grew bald in besieging Tyre with the hardships of their work (Eze 29:18). The Egyptians, contrary to oriental custom, shaved on joyous occasions and only let the hair grow in mourning; the mention of Joseph's "shaving" when summoned before Pharaoh is therefore an undesigned coincidence in Ge 41:14, and mark of the truth of the Scripture record. Artificial baldness marked the ending of a Nazarite's vow (Nu 6:9; Ac 18:18; 21:24).
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Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. But Joseph [first] shaved himself, changed his clothes, and made himself presentable; then he came into Pharaoh's presence.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. But Joseph [first] shaved himself, changed his clothes, and made himself presentable; then he came into Pharaoh's presence.
If a man's hair has fallen from his head, he is bald, but he is clean. And if his hair has fallen out from the front of his head, he has baldness of the forehead, but he is clean.
And if his hair has fallen out from the front of his head, he has baldness of the forehead, but he is clean. But if there is on the bald head or forehead a reddish white diseased spot, it is leprosy breaking out on his baldness.
But if there is on the bald head or forehead a reddish white diseased spot, it is leprosy breaking out on his baldness.
You shall not round the corners of the hair of your heads nor trim the corners of your beard [as some idolaters do].
You shall not round the corners of the hair of your heads nor trim the corners of your beard [as some idolaters do].
The priests [like the other Israelite men] shall not shave the crown of their heads or clip off the corners of their beard or make any cuttings in their flesh.
The priests [like the other Israelite men] shall not shave the crown of their heads or clip off the corners of their beard or make any cuttings in their flesh.
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead,
You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead, For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth.
For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth.
Then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails [in purification from heathenism]
Then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails [in purification from heathenism]
He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!
He went up from Jericho to Bethel. On the way, young [maturing and accountable] boys came out of the city and mocked him and said to him, Go up [in a whirlwind], you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!
And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].
They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].
Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab [all of whom are related except Egypt], and all who live in the desert and who clip off the corners of their hair and beards; for all these nations are uncircumcised [in heart], and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
Egypt, Judah, Edom, the children of Ammon, Moab [all of whom are related except Egypt], and all who live in the desert and who clip off the corners of their hair and beards; for all these nations are uncircumcised [in heart], and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them.
Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and be dumb. O remnant of their valley and of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]?
Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and be dumb. O remnant of their valley and of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to render heavy service [at My bidding] against Tyre; every [soldier's] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [with carrying loads of earth and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no remuneration from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended in the thirteen years' siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to render heavy service [at My bidding] against Tyre; every [soldier's] head became bald and every shoulder was worn and peeled [with carrying loads of earth and stones for siege works]. Yet he had no remuneration from Tyre [in proportion to the time and labor expended in the thirteen years' siege], either for himself or his army, for the work that he had done against it [for Me].
Neither shall they shave their heads or allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut short or trim the hair of their heads.
Neither shall they shave their heads or allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut short or trim the hair of their heads.
Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [ Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.
Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [ Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.
Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses [for the temple offering], so that they may have their heads shaved. Thus everybody will know that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk in observance of the Law.
Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses [for the temple offering], so that they may have their heads shaved. Thus everybody will know that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk in observance of the Law.
Hastings
Morish
The Israelites were forbidden to cut themselves or to make themselves bald for the dead, as the heathen did; for they were a holy people unto the Lord. Le 21:5; De 14:1; Jer 16:6. Baldness is one of the judgements of the Lord: perhaps they would make themselves bald in their distress. Isa 3:24; 15:2; 22:12; Eze 7:18; Am 8:10; Mic 1:16. See NAZARITE.
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The priests [like the other Israelite men] shall not shave the crown of their heads or clip off the corners of their beard or make any cuttings in their flesh.
You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead,
And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].
And in that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping and mourning, to the shaving off of all your hair [in humiliation] and to the girding with sackcloth.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].
And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.
Smith
Baldness.
Natural baldness seems to have been uncommon, since it exposed people to public derision.
Le 13:29; 2Ki 2:23; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; Eze 7:18
Artificial baldness marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow,
and was a sign of mourning.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.
And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].
Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and be dumb. O remnant of their valley and of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].
Afterward Paul remained many days longer, and then told the brethren farewell and sailed for Syria; and he was accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he [ Paul] cut his hair, for he had made a vow.
Watsons
BALDNESS is a natural effect of old age, in which period of life the hair of the head, wanting nourishment, falls off, and leaves the head naked. Artificial baldness was used as a token of mourning; it is threatened to the voluptuous daughters of Israel, instead of well set hair, Isa 3:24. See Mic 1:16; and instances of it occur, Isa 15:2; Jer 47:5. See Eze 7:18; Am 8:10.
The insult offered to Elisha by the young people of Bethel, improperly rendered "little children," who cried out after him, "Go up thou bald head," may here be noticed. The town of Bethel was one of the principal nurseries of Ahab's idolatry, and the contempt was offered to Elisha in his public character as a prophet of the Lord. If in the expression, "Go up," there was also a reference to the translation of Elijah, as turning it into jest, this was another aggravation of the sin, to which these young people were probably instigated by their parents. The malediction laid upon them by the prophet was not an act of private resentment, but evidently proceeded from prophetic impulse.
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And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.
They are gone up to Bayith and to Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, and every beard is cut off [as a sign of deep sorrow and humiliation].
Baldness [as a token of mourning] will come upon Gaza; Ashkelon will be cut off and be dumb. O remnant of their valley and of the giants, how long will you gash yourselves [as a token of mourning]?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth; horror and dismay shall cover them, and shame shall be upon all faces and baldness upon all their heads [as evidence of grief].
And I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, and I will cause sackcloth to be put upon all loins and baldness [for mourning] shall come on every head; and I will make that time as the mourning for an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.
Make yourself bald in mourning and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness as the eagle, for [your children] shall be carried from you into exile.