23 Bible Verses About Hair

Numbers 6:5

“All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.”

Reflection: The Lord gives Moses the law of the Nazirite, a special vow that either a man or a woman could make (Numbers 6:2). Besides leaving the hair uncut, the Nazirite kept away from wine and everything from the grapevine, and from dead bodies, “because his separation to God is on his head” (6:7). When the time of the vow was completed, the Nazirite shaved the consecrated hair at the entrance of the tent of meeting and put it on the fire under the peace offering (6:18).

1 Samuel 1:11

“And she vowed a vow and said, ‘O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.’”

Reflection: Hannah, childless, weeps and prays at the temple of the Lord in Shiloh. She promises that if God gives her a son, “no razor shall touch his head,” the wording of Numbers 6:5, and she gives him to the Lord “all the days of his life,” where Numbers 6 describes a vow that ends when its time is completed. The son she bears is Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20).

Judges 16:17

“And he told her all his heart, and said to her, ‘A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.’”

Reflection: Before Samson’s birth, his mother was told, “No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judges 13:5). Delilah has asked three times where his strength lies and been given three false answers, the last about weaving the seven locks of his head into a loom (16:13). Pressed “day after day” (16:16), he tells her the truth.

Judges 16:19

“She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.”

Reflection: Delilah has a man shave off the seven locks while Samson sleeps on her knees, and his strength leaves him. Verse 20 adds what Samson himself did not know: “the Lord had left him.” The Philistines blind him and set him to grind at the mill in Gaza, and the chapter notes that “the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved” (16:22).

Acts 18:18

“After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.”

Reflection: Luke mentions it in passing as Paul sails for Syria with Priscilla and Aquila: at Cenchreae “he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.” Paul is the subject of the sentence before and Aquila is the name just before “he”, and the verse does not say which man cut his hair or what the vow was. In Acts 21:23-24 James and the elders in Jerusalem ask Paul to pay the expenses of four men under a vow “so that they may shave their heads.”

Matthew 10:30

“But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Reflection: Jesus is sending out the twelve and warning them of persecution. Between “do not fear those who kill the body” (10:28) and “Fear not, therefore” (10:31) he points to two sparrows sold for a penny, none of which falls to the ground apart from the Father, and then to the hairs of the head. Luke 12:7 gives the same saying, with five sparrows sold for two pennies.

Luke 21:18

“But not a hair of your head will perish.”

Reflection: Jesus is describing what his followers will face: arrest, trials before kings and governors, and betrayal by parents, brothers and friends. Verse 16 has just said “some of you they will put to death,” and the promise that not a hair will perish comes two verses later, followed by “By your endurance you will gain your lives” (21:19).

Psalm 40:12

“For evils have encompassed me beyond number; my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head; my heart fails me.”

Reflection: The psalm opens with thanks for a past rescue, but by verse 12 it has turned to a new plea. The hairs of the head serve as a measure of what cannot be counted: the evils surrounding the psalmist and his own iniquities. Verse 13 asks, “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me!”

Job 1:20

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.”

Reflection: Messengers have just reported the loss of Job’s livestock, his servants and his seven sons and three daughters. Job tears his robe, shaves his head, falls to the ground and worships, and then says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21).

Ezra 9:3

“As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled.”

Reflection: The officials have told Ezra that the people, the priests and the Levites have taken wives from the surrounding peoples. He tears his garment and cloak, pulls hair from his head and beard, and sits appalled until the evening sacrifice, when he falls on his knees and spreads out his hands to God (9:4-5).

Jeremiah 7:29

“‘Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’”

Reflection: The Lord has told Jeremiah that the people will not listen, and that he is to call them “the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God” (7:28). The order to cut off the hair is paired with a lament on the bare heights, and the reason given is that the Lord “has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.”

Ezekiel 5:1

“And you, O son of man, take a sharp sword. Use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard. Then take balances for weighing and divide the hair.”

Reflection: Ezekiel’s shaved hair is a sign-act of judgment. God tells him to shave his head and beard with a sword and weigh the hair into three parts: one burned in the city, one struck with the sword around it, one scattered to the wind (5:2). A few hairs are bound in the skirts of his robe, and some of those are burned too. Verse 5 says what the hair stands for: “This is Jerusalem.”

1 Corinthians 11:14–15

“Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.”

Reflection: Paul is writing about praying or prophesying with the head covered or uncovered: the ESV has “every man” and “every wife” (11:4-5). He asks whether “nature itself” teaches that long hair is a disgrace for a man and a glory for a woman, and says her hair “is given to her for a covering.” The passage ends, “If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God” (11:16).

1 Timothy 2:8–10

“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.”

Reflection: Paul’s instruction to Timothy pairs the two: men are to pray without anger or quarreling, and women are to dress with modesty and self-control. Braided hair stands in a list with gold, pearls and costly attire, and the adornment set in their place is “good works.”

1 Peter 3:3–4

“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

Reflection: Peter is addressing wives, including those whose husbands “do not obey the word” (3:1). Braided hair appears alongside gold jewelry and clothing, as in 1 Timothy 2:9, and all three are set against “the hidden person of the heart.” Verse 5 points to “the holy women who hoped in God,” and verse 6 names Sarah.

Luke 7:37–38

“And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.”

Reflection: The Pharisee who has invited Jesus to eat is named Simon (7:40). The woman, known in the city as a sinner, wets Jesus’ feet with her tears, wipes them with her hair, kisses them and anoints them. Jesus later contrasts her with his host: “you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair” (7:44). He tells her, “Your sins are forgiven” (7:48).

John 11:2

“It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.”

Reflection: John introduces Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus, by an act he has not yet narrated. It comes in John 12:3, at a dinner in Bethany six days before the Passover, where she anoints Jesus’ feet with a pound of pure nard and wipes them with her hair, and Jesus says she is keeping it “for the day of my burial” (12:7). Luke’s account in chapter 7 is set in a Pharisee’s house, and John’s in Bethany.

Song of Solomon 4:1

“Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead.”

Reflection: The man is praising the woman, moving from her eyes behind her veil to her hair and then to her teeth (4:2). Her hair is compared to a flock of goats coming down the slopes of Gilead.

Song of Solomon 5:11

“His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.”

Reflection: Others have asked the woman what makes her beloved better than any other (5:9). She begins with his head: he is “distinguished among ten thousand” (5:10), his head is the finest gold, and his locks are wavy and black.

2 Samuel 14:26

“And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.”

Reflection: Absalom, David’s son, was the most praised man in Israel for his looks, without blemish “from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (14:25). He cut his hair once a year when it grew heavy and weighed it: two hundred shekels by the king’s weight. When Absalom is caught in an oak in 2 Samuel 18:9, the text says his head caught fast; it does not mention his hair.

Proverbs 16:31

“Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.”

Reflection: The proverb calls gray hair a crown and ties it to “a righteous life.” Proverbs 20:29 sets the two ages side by side: “The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.”

Daniel 7:9

“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.”

Reflection: In Daniel’s night visions, after four beasts, thrones are set and the Ancient of Days takes his seat. His clothing is white as snow, his hair like pure wool, and his throne fiery flames. Verse 10 shows what the scene is: “the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”

Revelation 1:14–15

“The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.”

Reflection: John turns to see who is speaking and sees “one like a son of man” among seven golden lampstands (1:12-13). The description of his hair, white like wool and like snow, uses the images Daniel 7:9 gives the Ancient of Days.