Leviticus 19:28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.
1. The custom of scratching the arms, hands, and face as tokens of mourning for the dead is said to have existed among the Babylonians, Armenians, Scythians, and Romans, and is practiced by the Arabs, Persians, and Abyssinians of the present day, and also by the New Zealanders. It was sometimes accompanied by shaving the hair from the forehead. See Leviticus 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 16:6; 48:37. Some suppose that reference is made in Zechariah 13:6 to this custom of cutting the hands as a token of mourning.
2: The Orientals are very fond of tattooing. Figures of birds, trees, flowers, temples, and gods are carefully and painfully marked in their flesh with colors by the puncturing of sharp needles. This is still done in India for idolatrous purposes, and, in the time of Moses, probably had some connection with idolatry. Others do it for eccentric desire of adornment, as we sometimes find our own sailors printing their names and making representations of ships, anchors, and other objects on their arms by means of needles and india-ink, the latter mingling with the blood drawn by the needles, and leaving an indelible mark of a light blue. See note on Isaiah 49:16 (#321), and also on Galatians 6:17 (#873).