What does the Bible say about tattoos?
The direct Scripture on this subject is found in Leviticus 19:28, where God commands Israel:
"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am Jehovah."
This prohibition stands alongside other commands separating Israel from heathen practices — enchantments, augury, and necromancy — all bound together by the refrain, "I am Jehovah," asserting God's sole claim over His people.
The Heathen Connection
Morrish's Bible Dictionary provides a concise summary of the practice and its prohibition:
Morrish's Bible Dictionary"This practice was forbidden in the law, as also was making any mark in the flesh. It was customary among the heathen, who cut themselves for the dead and tattooed their bodies in honour of their gods: the Israelites belonged to Jehovah. Lev. 19:28; Lev. 21:5."
The point is clear: cutting and marking the flesh was associated with pagan mourning rites and idol worship. The Israelites, as Jehovah's people, were to have nothing to do with these practices. The body belonged to God, not to the worshipper's own vanity or to the service of false gods.
"Our Bodies Are Not Our Own"
William Kelly, commenting on Leviticus 19, places the prohibition in its broader context — the heathen practices that surrounded Israel and the holiness God required of His people:
William Kelly"Then not only is the eating of anything with the blood forbidden, but enchantments and auguries, and heathenish ways in trimming of heads and beards, cutting of the flesh and tattooing, as opposed to Jehovah. So too the devoting of a daughter to whoredom, as not immoral only but 'profane.'"
Kelly sees the prohibitions of verses 26–31 as a unified whole: all forms of heathen self-expression — whether occult, bodily, or sexual — are "opposed to Jehovah." The underlying principle is that Israel's bodies, families, and worship all belonged exclusively to Him.
L. M. Grant draws an explicitly New Testament application, connecting the Old Testament prohibition to Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians:
L. M. Grant"Verses 27-28 tell us that our bodies are not our own to do with them as we please, whether in shaving for show or making cuts in the flesh or being tattooed (Compare 1 Cor. 6:19-20). All of these are only to satisfy a person's pride."
Grant's cross-reference to 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 — "your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit ... ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" — lifts the principle beyond the Mosaic law and into the Christian dispensation. The body of the believer is now a temple of the Holy Spirit, and the same principle that forbade Israel from marking their flesh applies with even greater force: we are not our own.
Synthesis
The Bible's one direct statement on tattoos is the prohibition in Leviticus 19:28, given in the context of separating Israel from heathen mourning rites and idol-worship. The underlying principle, however, is broader than any single cultural practice: the body belongs to God, not to its occupant. Under the old covenant, Israel's bodies bore no marks because they belonged to Jehovah. Under the new, the believer's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit — purchased at the cost of Christ's blood — and the same principle of consecration applies. The question is not merely "is tattooing forbidden?" but "does this honour the One to whom my body belongs?"