Cutting

Grief can make people hurt themselves, and the law speaks to it plainly. “Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.” Leviticus says much the same, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,” and ends with the reason that carries the weight: “I am the LORD.” Jeremiah later describes a day of such terrible loss that people will not even mourn in the usual ways. The first command comes in Deuteronomy 14:1, where it is tied to belonging to God.

4 verses

Leviticus

Leviticus 19:28

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 21:5

They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 14:1

Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 16:6

Both 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:

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

The flesh in various ways was an idolatrous practice, a part of idol-worship (Deut. 14:1; 1 Kings 18:28). The Israelites were commanded not to imitate this practice (Lev. 19:28; 21:5; Deut. 14:1). The tearing of the flesh from grief and anguish of spirit in mourning for the dead was regarded as a mark of affection (Jer. 16:6; 41:5; 48:37).

Allusions are made in Revelation (13:16; 17:5; 19:20) to the practice of printing marks on the body, to indicate allegiance to a deity. We find also references to it, through in a different direction, by Paul (Gal. 6; 7) and by Ezekiel (9:4). (See HAIR.)