For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.

For every head shall be bald, and every beard shall be shaven: all hands shall be tied together, and upon every back there shall be haircloth.

For every head is bald, and every beard diminished, On all hands cuttings, and on the loins, sackcloth.

For everywhere the hair of the head and the hair of the face is cut off: on every hand there are wounds, and haircloth on every body.

For every head will be bald, and every beard will be shaved. All the hands will be bound together, and there will be haircloth on every back.

Quia omni capiti calvitium, et omni barbae rasura (ad verbum diminutio; rg significat diminuere, sed hic accipitur, pro rasura,) et super omnes manus incisiones, et super lumbos saccus.

The Prophet describes at large a very great mourning. They were wont in great sorrow to pull off their hair, to shave their beard, and to put on sackcloth, or to gird it round their loins, and also to cut their hands with a knife or with their nails. As these things were signs of grief; Jeremiah puts them all together, in order to show that the calamity of Moab would not be common, but what would cause to the whole people extreme lamentation. They shall make bald, he says, their heads, their beard they shall pull off, or shave; for the word, to diminish, may signify either. Then he adds, the incisions in the hands; they shall tear their faces and their hands with their nails, or as some say, with a knife or a razor. As to sackcloth, it was also a sign of mourning. It is indeed certain that it was formerly the practice for men, as though it was innate in human nature, in great calamities to spread ashes on the head and to put on sackloth. But he has added other excesses which are not very congenial to nature, for it is not agreeable to humanity to pull off the beard, to make bald the head, or to tear the hands and the face with the nails. These things show excesses, suitable neither to men nor to women, -- not to women on the ground of modesty, nor to men on the ground of manliness and strength of mind. But mankind never control themselves, and whether they mourn or rejoice, they are ever led away to excesses, observing no moderation. There was also another evil connected with sackcloth and ashes; for when it was God's design to lead men by these symbols to humble themselves, to consider their sins and to flee to his mercy, they were diverted to another end, even that he who mourned might appear miserable to others, and make a display of his weeping and tears. In short, besides excess, there was also this common evil, even hypocrisy. For men ever turn aside to what is vain, and dissemble in all things. But in this place there is no reason to dispute about mourning, for the Prophet means only that the Moabites would become most miserable, exhibiting all the symptoms of sorrow. It follows --

Cuttings - Compare Jeremiah 16:6, and marginal references.

For every head shall be bald - These, as we have seen before, were signs of the deepest distress and desolation.

For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped,.... Men, in times of mourning, used to pluck off the hairs of their head till they made them bald, and shaved their beards; which, as Kimchi says, were the glory of their faces; see Isaiah 15:2;
upon all the hands shall be cuttings: it was usual with the Heathens to make incisions in the several parts of their bodies, particularly in their hands and arms, with their nails, or with knives, in token of mourning; which are forbidden the Israelites, Deuteronomy 14:1;
and upon the loins sackcloth; this is a well known custom for mourners, to put off their clothes, and put on sackcloth; all these things are mentioned, to show how great was the mourning of Moab for the calamities of it.

(See on Jeremiah 47:5; Isaiah 15:2-3).
upon all . . . hands--that is, arms, in which such cuttings used to be made in token of grief (compare Zac 13:6).