Ezekiel 44:20

Easy-to-Read Version

"These priests will not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. The priests may only trim the hair of their heads.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“They may not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but are to carefully trim their hair.

Hebrew Names Version
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

King James Version
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

English Standard Version
They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads.

New American Standard Bible
"Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

New Century Version
"‘They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long but must keep the hair of their heads trimmed.

Amplified Bible
"Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not allow their hair to grow long; they shall only cut short or trim their hair.

Geneva Bible (1587)
They shall not also shaue their heades, nor suffer their lockes to growe long, but rounde their heades.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

Legacy Standard Bible
Also they shall not shave their heads, yet they shall not let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

Berean Standard Bible
They must not shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must carefully trim their hair.

Contemporary English Version
Priests must never shave their heads when they are mourning. But they must keep their hair properly trimmed and not let it grow too long.

Complete Jewish Bible
They are not to shave their heads or let their hair grow long, but must keep their hair carefully trimmed.

Darby Translation
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long: they shall duly poll their heads.

George Lamsa Translation
Neither shall they shave their heads nor let their locks grow long; but they shall have their hair cut.

Good News Translation
"Priests must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long. They are to keep it a proper length.

Lexham English Bible
And their head they shall not shave, or long hair they shall not let grow; short they shall clip their heads.

Literal Translation
And they shall not shave their heads, and they shall not send forth long hair; trimming they shall trim their heads.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They shal not shaue their heades, ner norish the bushe of their hayre, but roude their heades only.

American Standard Version
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

Bible in Basic English
They are not to have all the hair cut off their heads, and they are not to let their hair get long, but they are to have the ends of their hair cut.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

King James Version (1611)
Neither shall they shaue their heads, nor suffer their lockes to grow long, they shall only polle their heads.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They shall not shaue their heades, nor suffer their here to growe long, but poule their heades onely.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they shall not shave their heads, nor shall they pluck off their hair; they shall carefully cover their heads.

English Revised Version
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

World English Bible
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe thei schulen not schaue her heed, nether thei schulen nursche long heere, but thei clippynge schulen clippe her heedis.

Update Bible Version
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

Webster's Bible Translation
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

New English Translation
"‘They must not shave their heads nor let their hair grow long; they must only trim their heads.

New King James Version
"They shall neither shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long, but they shall keep their hair well trimmed.

New Living Translation
"They must neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow too long. Instead, they must trim it regularly.

New Life Bible
And they must not cut all the hair from their heads, yet they must not let their hair grow long. They must only cut their hair shorter.

New Revised Standard
They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And their heads, shall they not shave, Nor let the hair grow long, - They shall only poll, their heads.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor wear long hair: but they shall only poll their heads.

Revised Standard Version
They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

Young's Literal Translation
And their head they do not shave, and the lock they do not send forth; they certainly poll their heads.

THE MESSAGE
"They are to neither shave their heads nor let their hair become unkempt, but must keep their hair trimmed and neat.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ When they enter the gates of the inner courtyard, they will wear linen clothes. They will not wear wool while they serve at the gates of the inner courtyard and in the Temple. ¹⁸ They will wear linen turbans on their heads, and they will wear linen underwear. They will not wear anything that makes them sweat. ¹⁹ Before they go out into the outer courtyard to the people, they will take off the clothes they wear while serving me. They will put these clothes away in the holy rooms. Then they will put on other clothes. In this way they will not let people touch those holy clothes. ²⁰ "These priests will not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. The priests may only trim the hair of their heads. ²¹ None of the priests may drink wine when they go into the inner courtyard. ²² The priests must not marry a widow or a divorced woman. No, they must only marry a virgin from the family of Israel or a woman whose dead husband was a priest. ²³ "Also, the priests must teach my people the difference between things that are holy and things that are not holy. They must help my people know what is clean and what is unclean. ²⁴ The priests will be the judges in court. They will follow my laws when they judge people. They will obey my laws and my rules at all my special feasts. They will respect my special days of rest and keep them holy. ²⁵ They will not go near a dead person to make themselves unclean. But they may make themselves unclean if the dead person is their father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or a sister who is not married. ²⁶ After the priest has been made clean, he must wait seven days.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

shave: Leviticus 21:5-24, Deuteronomy 14:1

nor suffer: Numbers 6:5, 1 Corinthians 11:14

Reciprocal: Leviticus 19:27 - General Ezekiel 5:1 - take

Cross-References

Genesis 35:18
Rachel died while giving birth to the son. Before dying, she named the boy Benoni. But Jacob called him Benjamin.

Genesis 37:3
Joseph was born at a time when his father Israel was very old, so Israel loved him more than he loved his other sons. Jacob gave him a special coat, which was long and very beautiful.

Genesis 37:19
They said to each other, "Here comes Joseph the dreamer.

Genesis 42:13
And the brothers said, "No, sir, we come as servants from Canaan. We are all brothers, sons of the same father. There were twelve brothers in our family. Our youngest brother is still at home with our father, and the other brother died a long time ago."

Genesis 42:36
Jacob said to them, "Do you want me to lose all of my children? Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin away too!"

Genesis 42:38
But Jacob said, "I will not let Benjamin go with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son left from my wife Rachel. It would kill me if anything happened to him during the trip to Egypt. You would send me to the grave a very sad, old man."

Genesis 44:7
But the brothers said to the servant, "Why does the governor say these things? We wouldn't do anything like that!

Genesis 44:8
We brought back the money that we found in our sacks before. So surely we wouldn't steal silver or gold from your master's house.

Genesis 44:27
Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons.

Genesis 44:30
Now, imagine what will happen when we go home without our youngest brother—he is the most important thing in our father's life!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Neither shall they shave their heads,.... As the priests and worshippers of Isis and Serapis did, as Jerom on the text observes; and as the Romish priests now do, from whom the Lord's faithful ministers must be distinguished:

nor suffer their locks to grow long; as the Nazarites, that a distinction might be preserved between those who were and were not such; or rather, after the manner of women, their locks hanging down, and flowing about their shoulders, as a token of levity, wantonness, effeminacy, pride, and vanity; see 1 Corinthians 11:14:

they shall only poll their heads; observe a medium between both; neither shave their heads close, nor let their hair grow long, but keep it in an even moderate length; for which reason godly men of the last age among us were called "round heads".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Regulations as to the priests’ services. The garments of the priests are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness.

Ezekiel 44:18

The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary priest were made was “linen,” or, more accurately, “byssus,” the cotton stuff of Egypt. The two special qualities of the byssus - white and shining - are characteristic, and on them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Compare Revelation 19:8.

Ezekiel 44:19

They shall not sanctify the people - They shall not touch the people with their holy garments. The word “sanctify” is used because the effect of touching was to separate as holy the persons or things so touched (Exodus 29:37; Exodus 30:29; compare Leviticus 6:18). The priests wore the distinctive dress, only while performing in the temple strictly sacrificial services.

The holy chambers; see Ezekiel 42:1 ff.

Ezekiel 44:22

Restrictions and exceptions intended to mark the holiness of the office of a priest, imposing on him additional (compare the marginal reference) obligations to purity, and communicating it in some degree to his wife. In the Christian Church all the members are “priests” 1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 20:6. Hence, the directions for maintaining the holiness of the “priesthood” in the new order, represent the necessity for holiness in all Christians, and the exclusion of the “uncircumcised in heart and in flesh” is equivalent to the exclusion of “all that defileth” from the New Jerusalem Revelation 21:27.

Ezekiel 44:24

There was in Herod’s Temple a council of priests, whose special duty it was to regulate every thing connected with the sanctuary. They did not ordinarily busy themselves with criminal questions, although they took a leading part in the condemnation of Jesus Mark 15:1.

Ezekiel 44:28

It shall be unto them - The remains of the sacrifices were a chief source of the priests’ support. The burnt-offerings being entirely consumed, the priests had the skins, which yielded a considerable revenue; meat-offerings and drink-offerings belonged entirely to them. sin-offerings and trepass-offerings, except in particular cases, also belonged to the priests and were partaken of in the temple. Of the peace-offerings a portion dedicated to the Lord by waving was left for the priests, and the rest eaten by the officers and their friends, either in the courts of the temple, or at least within Jerusalem. The kitchen-courts (K, Plan II Ezek. Ezekiel 46:21-24), were provided in order to prepare these public meals.

Ezekiel 44:30

Oblation - Offering, margin “heave-offering” (see Ezekiel 45:1; Exodus 25:2; Exodus 29:27; Notes and Pref. to Leviticus).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 44:20. Neither shall they shave their heads — The priests of Isis shaved their heads close to the skin; the priests of Budhoo do so still, their ordinances oblige them to shave their heads every tenth day. To let the hair grow long would have been improper; therefore the Lord commands them to poll-cut the hair short, but not to shave.