You shall not round off the hair on your temples: literally “Do not round off the edge of your head.” It is usually translated something like “Do not shave your temples.” A complete understanding of this prohibition and the following one is impossible for us today. But they probably had to do with practices that were common in the pagan religions of the people around the Israelites. These practices may have been linked with mourning for the dead, as is made explicit in verse 28.

Since Good News Translation makes verses 27 and 28 a single sentence, the connection with the mourning practices in this verse is much clearer. Moffatt also combines these two verses into one sentence. Such restructuring is almost essential to a proper understanding of this passage. It is certainly erroneous to make a separate paragraph of verse 28, as in New International Version.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .