circumcise, circumcision

Click here to view graphically

The Hebrew and Greek terms that are translated as “circumcise” or “circumcision” in English (originally meaning of English term: “to cut around”) are (back-) translated in various ways:

  • Chimborazo Highland Quichua: “cut the flesh”
  • San Miguel El Grande Mixtec, Navajo: “cut around”
  • Javanese: “clip-away”
  • Uab Meto: “pinch and cut” (usually shortened to “cut”)
  • North Alaskan Inupiatun, Western Highland Purepecha: “put the mark”
  • Tetelcingo Nahuatl: “put the mark in the body showing that they belong to God” (or: “that they have a covenant with God”)
  • Indonesian: disunat — “undergo sunat” (sunat is derived from Arabic “sunnah (سنة)” — “(religious) way (of life)”)
  • Ekari: “cut the end of the member for which one fears shame” (in Gen. 17:10) (but typically: “the cutting custom”) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • Hiri Motu: “cut the skin” (source: Deibler / Taylor 1977, p. 1079)
  • Garifuna: “cut off part of that which covers where one urinates”
  • Bribri: “cut the soft” (source for this and the one above: Ronald Ross)
  • Amele: deweg cagu qoc — “cut the body” (source: John Roberts)
  • Eastern Highland Otomi: “cut the flesh of the sons like Moses taught” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.)
  • Newari: “put the sign in one’s body” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Central Mazahua: “sign in his flesh”
  • Hopi: “being cut in a circle in his body” (source for this and above: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Mandarin Chinese: gēlǐ (割礼 / 割禮) or “rite of cutting” (Protestant); gēsǔn (割损 / 割損) or “cut + loss” (Catholic) (Source: Zetzsche)
  • Tibetan: mdun lpags gcod (མདུན་​ལྤགས་​གཅོད།), lit. “fore + skin + cut” (source: gSungrab website )
  • Kutu: “enter the cloth (=undergarments)” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 9:25 - 9:26

Behold (see 1.6) is here used as an attention-getter.

The days are coming: See 7.32.

All those who are circumcised but yet uncircumcised will not be clear for many readers. The problem is that circumcised refers to the actual physical act of circumcision, whereas uncircumcised is used in a figurative sense (see 6.10). Good News Translation attempts to resolve the difficulty by placing verses 25-26 together and explaining the significance of circumcision in terms of the covenant relationship with the LORD. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch retains the verse order, restructuring as follows: “24 ‘The day is coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will deal with all who are circumcised: 25 with the Egyptians and the people of Judah, with the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and with the tribes in the desert who shave their heads bald. All these people—including the Israelites—are uncircumcised as far as I am concerned, because they have not circumcised their hearts!’ ” If the figure of “circumcising” the heart is intelligible to readers, then this form may be acceptable. Otherwise, translators may need to say “who are circumcised, but it’s as if [or, but yet who live as if] they are uncircumcised, for they have not kept their covenant with me” or “Even though they are circumcised as a sign of their covenant with me, yet they behave as if they were not circumcised.”

Just as Egypt means “the people of Egypt,” so the sons of Ammon means “the people of Ammon.” Moab is the region immediately east of the Dead Sea, while Edom is directly south of the Dead Sea. The region of Ammon lies north of Moab. As the text indicates, all of these peoples, together with the Egyptians, did practice circumcision. But, along with Israel, it was as if they were not circumcised, for they did not keep a covenant relationship with God. Hence the Good News Translation “these people are circumcised, but have not kept the covenant it symbolizes.”

Cut the corners of their hair (see 25.23; 49.32) is the usual interpretation given to this Hebrew expression, but a minority of commentators understand it to mean “who live along the edges of the desert” (Revised English Bible “who live in the fringes of the desert”). The reference is probably to a religious custom of cutting the hair short in honor of a pagan god. This practice was forbidden to the Israelites (see Lev 19.27).

Uncircumcised in heart (see the comment above) may be translated “are not truly circumcised, because they do not obey me with their heart.”

House of Israel is normally expressed as “people of Israel.”

An alternative model for these two verses from Bassa in Liberia is:

• 25 A time is coming, and I will punish all people who are circumcised in flesh only. 26 These people are the Egyptians, the people of Judah, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the people in the desert who cut their hair short. Although all the Israelites are circumcised, their hearts are not circumcised.”

Note that Bassa in Liberia also adds a footnote on the last clause to indicate that it refers to disobedient hearts.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .