Why Does the Bible Forbid Tattoos? JSTOR Daily
Per Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves.”
Tattoos have been around for millennia. People got them at least five thousand years ago. Today they’re common everywhere from Maori communities in New Zealand to office parks in Ohio. But in the ancient Middle East, the writers of the Hebrew Bible forbade tattooing. Per Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves.”
The era-defining news anchor and journalist on challenging the powerful, the decline in political language and being open to finding beauty in the world
“The language has changed,” she says, not just that used by politicians but what she calls “professionalised classes”.
“Really the language has been destroyed as a medium for actually saying things that are meaningful. In fact, what a lot of this language does is try to bypass true meaning, because true meaning could get you into a lot of trouble.”