Violent Rituals of the Hebrew BibleAlthough seldom studied by biblical scholars as a discrete phenomenon, ritual violence is mentioned frequently in biblical texts and includes ritual actions such as the disfigurement of corpses, destruction or scattering of bones from a tomb, stoning, and other forms of public execution, cursing forced depilation, the legally sanctioned imposition of physical defects on living persons, coerced potion drinking, sacrificial burning of animals and