Ezekiel 27:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

and they shall make themselves bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ

qârach

H7139

“and · to be bald”

Conjunction + Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural

Appears 6× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 21:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2069

to be bald, make bald - (Qal) to make bald, make a baldness - (Niphal) to make oneself bald - (Hiphil) to make oneself bald - (Hophal) to make bald

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

11: words
9: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ to be bald H7139 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ to be bald H7139 occurs in 5 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
4 nouns
2 adjectives
2 prepositions

Verb forms

וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ Hiphil · Sequential Perfect
וְחָגְר֖וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
וּבָכ֥וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

בְּמַר bitter H4751 ×2
אֵלַ֨יִךְ֙ to H413 ×2

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 27:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Isaiah 22:12 In that day did the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
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.
Isaiah 15:2 They are gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep: Moab wails over Nebo, and over Medeba; on all their heads is baldness, every beard is cut off.
Isaiah 16:9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the [battle] shout is fallen.
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Leviticus 21:5 "'They shall not shave their heads, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
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.
Jeremiah 16:6 Both great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them;

Jeremiah 47:5 Baldness is come on Gaza; Ashkelon is brought to nothing, the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
Jeremiah 48:37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth.
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 the end of it like a bitter day.
Micah 1:8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, And moan like the daughters of owls.
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!

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 27:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ אֵלַ֨יִךְ֙ קָרְחָ֔ה וְחָגְר֖וּ שַׂקִּ֑ים וּבָכ֥וּ אֵלַ֛יִךְ בְּמַר נֶ֖פֶשׁ מִסְפֵּ֥ד מָֽר

and they shall make themselves bald for you, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from a public-domain English Septuagint. How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

וְיִמְרְטוּן עֲלָךְ מְרַט וְיֵיסְרוּן סַקִין וְיִבְכּוּן עֲלָךְ בִּמְרִיר נְפַשׁ וְיַעְבְּדוּן מִסְפַּד מְרִיר:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 27:31 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 27:31 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.

Ver. 31. And they shall make.] Moerebunt induti saccis, inducto calvitio. If this had been for sin, as it is offensivum Dei, et aversivum a Deo, then it had been right.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

utterly bald--literally, "bald with baldness." The PhÅ“nician custom in mourning; which, as being connected with heathenish superstitions, was forbidden to Israel (Deu 14:1).

take up--lift up.

the destroyed--a destroyed one. Literally, (as opposed to its previous bustle of thronging merchants and mariners, Eze 27:27), "one brought to death's stillness."

in . . . midst of . . . sea--insular Tyre.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. For these signs of grief cf. ch. Eze_7:18; Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12; Jer_16:16; Jer_47:5; Mic_1:16.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And in their wailing they shall takes up a lamentation for thee,.... A mournful song, such as was used at funerals, or in times of calamity; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it:

and lament over thee; saying the following ditty;

what city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea? as there was none like it a few years ago for riches, splendour, and glory, so now there is none like it for misery and ruin; see Rev 18:18. The Targum is,

"who is as Tyre? there is none like unto her in the midst of the sea;''

she is not now Tyre the renowned, but Tyre the destroyed; destroyed in the midst of the sea, from whence she had her riches and her glory: or, "as one dumb or silent in the midst of the sea"; she, in whom was heard the voice of joy and singing, is now mute, and nothing more of that kind is heard in her see Rev 18:22.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Utterly bald - See Eze 7:18 note.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

It was the custom of the heathen, to either pull off with their hands, or cut off, the hair of their heads in great mournings, which God forbade to his people, Lev 21:5; Deu 14:1. Thus do Tyre’s mourners in baldness express their sorrow and despair. Gird them with sackcloth; another usual ceremony of mourners, well known to all.

With bitterness of heart; it shall be a hearty mourning, not a counterfeit one; this referring to the inward grief, the next bitter wailing refers to the outward expressing it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to Tyre. The city of Tyre continues to be described as if it were a wrecked ship. (See: Metaphor)

General Information:

The word "they" in these verses refer to the people mentioned in verses 28 and 29. The words "you" and "your" refer to Tyre.

They will shave their heads bald for you and bind themselves with sackcloth

These are expressions of grieving and mourning. (See: Symbolic Action)

bald

having no hair on the head

They will lift up their wails of lamentation

The abstract noun "lamentation" can be translated using the verb "lament." AT: "They will cry out and lament" (See: Abstract Nouns)

sing dirges

"sing funeral songs"

Who is like Tyre, who has now been brought to silence in the middle of the sea?

This question expects a negative answer and emphasizes Tyre being different from all other cities. It can be expressed as a statement. AT: "No other city is like Tyre, who has now been brought to silence in the middle of the sea." (See: Rhetorical Question)

who has now been brought to silence

This can be expressed in active form. AT: "who its enemies have now silenced" (See: Active or Passive)

When your merchandise went ashore

This can be expressed in active form. AT: "When people brought your merchandise ashore" (See: Active or Passive)

ashore

"onto the land"

you enriched the kings of the earth

"you made the kings of the earth rich"

translationWords

sackcloth

lament

Tyre

people group

king

earth

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 11 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qârach (“to be bald”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to be bald” (qârach) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Leviticus 21:5 shares the word «to be bald» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“bitter” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ» is Hiphil Sequential Perfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 19 words in this verse.
“bitter” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 11 words in this verse.