14:1 You shall not cut yourselves . . . for the dead. See Lev. 19:27, 28, where the same rules are given. Details of this custom are unclear, but it doubtless involved practices associated with ancestor worship and pagan ritual mourning. Because Israel was chosen by God as His special possession (v. 2; 26:18), Israel was to be different and was to reject all pagan religion and associated rituals.