Jeremiah 16:6 - Exposition

Nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald . Both practices are forbidden in the Law ( Deuteronomy 14:1 ; Le 19:28; Deuteronomy 21:5 ), but the prohibition was at any rate unknown to the masses (see, for the former, Jeremiah 41:5 ; Jeremiah 47:5 ; and for the latter, Jeremiah 47:5 ; Isaiah 22:12 , "The Lord Jehovah called … to baldness;" Amos 8:10 ; Micah 1:16 ; Ezekiel 7:18 ). St. Jerome remarks, and incidentally gives a valuable evidence of the tenacity of primitive customs, "Mos hic fuit apud veteres, et usque hodie in quibusdam permanet Judaerum, ut in luctibus incidant lacertos," etc.