Are Tattoos sinful? Leviticus 19:28 says (NLT), “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the LORD.” Notice that it says “for the dead”, which means this direction was aimed at forbidding pagan ancestral worship and mourning practices. Deuteronomy 14:1 says, “Since you are the people of the LORD your God, never cut yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead.” This confirms that self-mutilation, like cutting, was a practice associated with mourning that God was against. The ancient Israelites would express mourning in a few different ways, weeping and crying loudly (Psalm 6:6, Genesis 50:10; Ruth 1:9), bowing the head (Lamentations 2:10), and fasting (2 Samuel 3:35), sprinkling ashes, dust, or dirt upon themselves (2 Samuel 1:2; Joshua 7:6), tear their clothing (Genesis 37:29; 2 Chronicles 34:27), removed jewelry (Exodus 33:4), walked barefoot (2 Samuel 15:30), and possibly wear a coarse, goat-hair garment called sackcloth/burlap (Genesis 37:34; Jonah 3:6-8). These mourning actions were permitted, but cutting, shaving, and tattooing were not.