Bible Strands
Ezekiel 27:31
They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Ezekiel describes how merchants and observers will react to the impending destruction of Tyre. The passage outlines their ritual mourning as the city faces ruin.
The words — The text highlights וְ/הִקְרִ֤יחוּ (ve./hik.Ri.chu) = they will make bald and שַׂקִּ֑ים (sa.Kim) = sackcloths, denoting the physical acts of ritual mourning. These terms describe the outward preparation for grief before the weeping begins.
The thread — This mourning pattern appears in Isaiah 22:12, Ezekiel 7:18, and Isaiah 15:2, where shaved heads and sackcloth consistently mark national disaster. The repeated formula links personal lament to corporate judgment across prophetic literature.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that human prosperity leaves no permanent allies when judgment arrives. It calls the reader to examine what they are building that will not survive divine reckoning.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 22:12 On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth.
- Ezekiel 7:18 They will put on sackcloth, and terror will overwhelm them. Shame will cover all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved.
- Isaiah 15:2 Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.
- Isaiah 16:9 So I weep with Jazer for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer fruit and your harvest.
- Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
- Leviticus 21:5 Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
- Deuteronomy 14:1 You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,
- Jeremiah 16:6 “Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
- Jeremiah 47:5 The people of Gaza will shave their heads in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. O remnant of their valley, how long will you gash yourself?
- Jeremiah 48:37 For every head is shaved and every beard is clipped; on every hand is a gash, and around every waist is sackcloth.