During the course of two millennia, Jews imprinted signs and scripts on their bodies. Although the Bible prohibits tattooing (Lev. 19:28), some Jews wrote the Lord’s Name on their body, probably with ink. Here we examine evidence for this practice: Ezekiel 9:4–6, Cain’s Mark (Gen. 4:15), Isa. 44:5, Exod. 28:36, and 39:30, where examples of setting the Lord’s Name on one’s arm or forehead are delineated. This practice may have originated among priests (see Num. 6:22–27, which we argue is to be read literally and not as a metaphor) and only later was imitated by the laity. Thus, priests blessed orally and committed their blessing into a bodily inscription on the people they blessed. The Talmud also contains evidence that some Jews had the Lord’s Name written on their bodies in ink, and Hekhalot literature contains two detailed descriptions of how people were inscribed with God’s Name, in a kind of rite-of-passage. Other texts (e.g., Rev. 19:16; Gal. 6:17) provide additional evidence that Jews in antiquity inscribed the Lord’s Name on their bodies.

在两千年的过程中，犹太人在其身上留下了标志和文字。尽管圣经禁止纹身（利19:28），但有些犹太人可能在身上用墨水写下了主的名字。在这里，我们检查了这种做法的证据：以西结书9：4–6，该隐的印记（创世记4:15），伊萨。44：5，出埃及记 28:36和39:30，其中描述了在某人的手臂或额头上设置“主名”的示例。这种做法可能起源于牧师（见民数记6：22-27，我们认为应从字面上看，而不是一个隐喻），后来才被俗人模仿。因此，祭司们口头祝福，并把祝福加在他们祝福的人身上。塔木德（Talmud）还包含一些犹太人在其身上用墨水写上主名的证据，Hekhalot和Hekhalot的文献以通俗易懂的方式，对人们如何被刻上了上帝的名字进行了两次详尽的描述。其他文本（例如，启19:16；加6:17）提供了其他证据，表明古代的犹太人在他们的身上刻有“主名”。