Bible Dictionary: Baldness

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Smith's Bible Dictionary

Baldness

Natural baldness seems to have been uncommon, since it exposed people to public derision. (Leviticus 13:29; 2 Kings 2:23; Isaiah 3:24; 15:2; Jeremiah 47:5; Ezekiel 7:18) Artificial baldness marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow, (Numbers 6:9; Acts 18:18) and was a sign of mourning.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

From natural causes was uncommon (2 Kings 2:23; Isaiah 3:24). It was included apparently under "scab" and "scurf," which disqualified for the priesthood (Leviticus 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 (Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 7:29; 16:6); it also Marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow (Acts 18:18; 21:24; Numbers 6:9). It is often alluded to (Micah 1:16; Amos 8:10; Jeremiah 47:5). The Jews were forbidden to follow the customs of surrounding nations in making themselves bald (Deuteronomy 14:1).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(n.) The state or condition of being bald; as, baldness of the head; baldness of style.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

BALDNESS

bald'-ness qorchah: The reference in the Bible to baldness is not to the natural loss of hair, but to baldness produced by shaving the head. This was practiced as a mark of mourning for the dead (Leviticus 21:5 Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12); as the result of any disaster (Amos 8:10 Micah 1:16). The custom arose from the fact that the hair was regarded as a special ornament. It was the custom of the people of the land, and the Israelites were strictly forbidden to practice it (Leviticus 21:5 Deuteronomy 14:1). These are striking passages with reference to the knowledge the Israelites had concerning the future life. This is saying to them what Paul said to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:13). To call one a "bald head" was an epithet of contempt, and was sometimes applied to persons who were not naturally bald. It was the epithet applied by certain infidel young men to Elisha (2 Kings 2:23, 24). In a figurative sense it is used to express the barrenness of the country (Jeremiah 47:5).

See HAIR; SHAVING.

Jacob W. Kapp

Topical Bible Verses

2 Kings 2:23-24
And he went up from there to Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head.
Topicalbible.org

Leviticus 21:5
They shall not make baldness on their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
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Leviticus 13:40
And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean.
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Micah 1:16
Make you bald, and poll you for your delicate children; enlarge your baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from you.
Topicalbible.org

Ezekiel 29:18
Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
Topicalbible.org

Ezekiel 27:31
And they shall make themselves utterly bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
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Ezekiel 7:18
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
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Jeremiah 48:37
For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands shall be cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth.
Topicalbible.org

Jeremiah 47:5
Baldness is come on Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
Topicalbible.org

Strong's Hebrew

7144. qorchah -- baldness, bald spot
... 7143, 7144. qorchah or qorcha. 7145 . baldness, bald spot. Transliteration:
qorchah or qorcha Phonetic Spelling: (kor-khaw') Short Definition: baldness. ...
/hebrew/7144.htm - 6k

7146. qarachath -- baldness of head
... 7145, 7146. qarachath. 7147 . baldness of head. Transliteration: qarachath
Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-rakh'-ath) Short Definition: head. ...
/hebrew/7146.htm - 6k

8195. Shepho -- "bareness," an Edomite
... Shephi, Shepho. Or Shphiy {shef-ee'}; from shaphah; baldness (compare shphiy); Shepho
or Shephi, an Idumaean -- Shephi, Shepho. see HEBREW shaphah. ...
/hebrew/8195.htm - 6k

7139. qarach -- to make bald
... Word Origin a prim. root Definition to make bald NASB Word Usage bald* (1), baldness*
(1), made bald (1), make (2), make yourself bald (1), shave his head (1). ...
/hebrew/7139.htm - 6k

1372. gabbachath -- a bald forehead
... bald forehead, without. From the same as gibbeach; baldness in the forehead; by
analogy, a bare spot on the right side of cloth -- bald forehead, X without. ...
/hebrew/1372.htm - 6k

Library

St. Gregory the Great.
... dwelling of the lions, and the feeding-place of the young lions?' Upon it has fallen
the lot of Judea, foretold by the prophet: 'Enlarge thy baldness as the ...
/.../allies/the formation of christendom volume vi/chapter v st gregory the.htm

Of all the Parts of the Body.
... part of man tends in a wonderful manner to beauty, yet it was not adapted to his
head; for what great deformity there would be in this, is evident from baldness ...
/.../lactantius/on the workmanship of god/chap vii of all the parts.htm

Internal Evidence Demonstrated to be the Very Reverse of ...
... The passage contains none of Mark's peculiarities (no eutheos, no palin, &c., but
the baldness and lack of clearness which mark a compiler;) while in single ...
/.../chapter ix internal evidence demonstrated.htm

Internal Evidence Demonstrated to be the Very Reverse of ...
... SMALL LETTER PI}{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH OXIA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA}{GREEK
SMALL LETTER IOTA}{GREEK SMALL LETTER NU}, &c, but the baldness and lack ...
/.../chapter ix internal evidence demonstrated.htm

Ripe for Gathering
... And Iw ill turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture a/ripe for gathering.htm

Psalm XLIV.
... Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness; [1316] and we find in the Gospel that
our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in "the place of a skull." [1317] It is ...
/.../augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/psalm xliv.htm

Letter cxxii. To Rusticus.
... scorn." [3126] It is to these that Isaiah alludes when he says: "in that day did
the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldness and to ...
/.../jerome/the principal works of st jerome/letter cxxii to rusticus.htm

Aron, Brother of Moses, 486, 487.
... 93]615. Babylon, means "confusion," [94]268, [95]604; type of captivity of
Christians, [96]604. Baldness. See Core. Baptism, passage ...
/.../augustine/exposition on the book of psalms/aron brother of moses 486.htm

Whether There Can be any Suitable Cause for the Sacraments of the ...
... and lancets, till they were all covered with blood." For this reason the Lord commanded
(Dt.14:1): "You shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness for the ...
/...//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether there can be any 2.htm

Treatise vi. On the Vanity of Idols: Showing that the Idols are ...
... There is also Venus the bald,"far more dishonoured by the fact of her baldness
in Rome than by her having been wounded in Homer. ...
/.../cyprian/the treatises of cyprian/treatise vi on the vanity.htm

Thesaurus

Baldness (11 Occurrences)
... With the Jews artificial baldness was a sign of mourning (Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah
7:29; 16:6); it also Marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow (Acts 18:18; 21 ...
/b/baldness.htm - 13k

Shave (19 Occurrences)
... (WEB KJV WBS NIV). 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. ...
/s/shave.htm - 14k

Sackcloth (47 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 3:24 It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;
instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of ...
/s/sackcloth.htm - 23k

Girding (8 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 3:24 It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness;
instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of ...
/g/girding.htm - 9k

Beard (23 Occurrences)
... the heathen who have "gone up to the high places to weep," says "Moab waileth over
Nebo, and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off ...
/b/beard.htm - 21k

Poll (5 Occurrences)
... and cut off thy hair (King James Version and English Revised Version "poll thee,"
Hebrew gazaz) for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the ...
/p/poll.htm - 12k

Shaved (23 Occurrences)
... 15:2 He is gone up to Baith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep; upon Nebo,
and upon Medeba, Moab howleth; on all their heads is baldness, every beard ...
/s/shaved.htm - 13k

Mourning (85 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to
mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth: (WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS ...
/m/mourning.htm - 34k

Lamentation (45 Occurrences)
... Isaiah 22:12 And in that day did the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, call to weeping, and
to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: (See JPS YLT). ...
/l/lamentation.htm - 21k

Girded (48 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 7:18 And they have girded on sackcloth, And covered them hath trembling,
And unto all faces 'is' shame, And on all their heads -- baldness. (YLT). ...
/g/girded.htm - 21k

Bible Concordance

Baldness (11 Occurrences)

Leviticus 13:41 And if his hair be fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead-bald; yet is he clean.
(See RSV)

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.
(KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS)

Deuteronomy 14:1 You are the children of Yahweh your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Isaiah 3:24 It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV NIV)

Isaiah 15:2 They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Isaiah 22:12 In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT RSV)

Jeremiah 47:5 Baldness is come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 7:18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Ezekiel 27:31 And they have made for thee baldness, And they have girded on sackcloth, And they have wept for thee, In bitterness of soul -- a bitter mourning.
(YLT)

Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Micah 1:16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS)

Subtopics

Baldness

Baldness Natural or Artificial

Baldness: A Judgment

Baldness: Artificial, a Sign of Mourning

Baldness: Artificial, As an Idolatrous Practice, Forbidden

Baldness: Elisha

Baldness: General Scriptures Concerning

Related Terms

Shave (19 Occurrences)

Sackcloth (47 Occurrences)

Girding (8 Occurrences)