Ezekiel 44:20

THE MESSAGE

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

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.

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.

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.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷"When they enter the gate complex of the inside courtyard, they are to dress in linen. No woolens are to be worn while serving at the gate complex of the inside courtyard or inside the Temple itself. They're to wear linen turbans on their heads and linen underclothes—nothing that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outside courtyard where the people gather, they must first change out of the clothes they have been serving in, leaving them in the sacred rooms where they change to their everyday clothes, so that they don't trivialize their holy work by the way they dress. ²⁰ "They are to neither shave their heads nor let their hair become unkempt, but must keep their hair trimmed and neat. ²¹ "No priest is to drink on the job—no wine while in the inside courtyard. ²² "Priests are not to marry widows or divorcees, but only Israelite virgins or widows of priests. ²³ "Their job is to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, to show them how to discern between unclean and clean. ²⁴ "When there's a difference of opinion, the priests will arbitrate. They'll decide on the basis of my judgments, laws, and statutes. They are in charge of making sure the appointed feasts are honored and my Sabbaths kept holy in the ways I've commanded. ²⁵"A priest must not contaminate himself by going near a corpse. But when the dead person is his father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unmarried sister, he can approach the dead. But after he has been purified, he must wait another seven days. Then, when he returns to the inside courtyard of the Sanctuary to do his priestly work in the Sanctuary, he must first offer a sin offering for himself. Decree of God , the Master. ²⁸"As to priests owning land, I am their inheritance. Don't give any land in Israel to them. I am their ‘land,' their inheritance. They'll take their meals from the grain offerings, the sin offerings, and the guilt offerings. Everything in Israel offered to God in worship is theirs. The best of everything grown, plus all special gifts, comes to the priests. All that is given in worship to God goes to them. Serve them first. Serve from your best and your home will be blessed. ³¹ "Priests are not to eat any meat from bird or animal unfit for ordinary human consumption, such as carcasses found dead on the road or in the field."

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
With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune).

Genesis 37:3
Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn't even speak to him.

Genesis 42:13
They said, "There were twelve of us brothers—sons of the same father in the country of Canaan. The youngest is with our father, and one is no more."

Genesis 42:36
Their father said to them, "You're taking everything I've got! Joseph's gone, Simeon's gone, and now you want to take Benjamin. If you have your way, I'll be left with nothing."

Genesis 42:38
But Jacob refused. "My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead and he is all I have left. If something bad happens to him on the road, you'll put my gray, sorrowing head in the grave."

Genesis 44:7
They said, "What is my master talking about? We would never do anything like that! Why, the money we found in our bags earlier, we brought back all the way from Canaan—do you think we'd turn right around and steal it back from your master? If that chalice is found on any of us, he'll die; and the rest of us will be your master's slaves."

Genesis 44:27
"Your servant, my father, told us, ‘You know very well that my wife gave me two sons. One turned up missing. I concluded that he'd been ripped to pieces. I've never seen him since. If you now go and take this one and something bad happens to him, you'll put my old gray, grieving head in the grave for sure.'

Genesis 44:30
"And now, can't you see that if I show up before your servant, my father, without the boy, this son with whom his life is so bound up, the moment he realizes the boy is gone, he'll die on the spot. He'll die of grief and we, your servants who are standing here before you, will have killed him. And that's not all. I got my father to release the boy to show him to you by promising, ‘If I don't bring him back, I'll stand condemned before you, Father, all my life.'

Genesis 44:33
"So let me stay here as your slave, not this boy. Let the boy go back with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Oh, don't make me go back and watch my father die in grief!"

Genesis 49:8
You, Judah, your brothers will praise you: Your fingers on your enemies' throat, while your brothers honor you. You're a lion's cub, Judah, home fresh from the kill, my son. Look at him, crouched like a lion, king of beasts; who dares mess with him? The scepter shall not leave Judah; he'll keep a firm grip on the command staff Until the ultimate ruler comes and the nations obey him. He'll tie up his donkey to the grapevine, his purebred prize to a sturdy branch. He will wash his shirt in wine and his cloak in the blood of grapes, His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

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.