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 (Dinė): “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)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .

complete verse (Genesis 17:12)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 17:12:

  • Kankanaey: “Starting-from now, you must circumcise all males that are born (lit. come-out) on their eighth day, including the slaves that are born in your houses and likewise also the slaves that you buy from strangers/foreigners.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “From now on your male children must put the sign in the body when they are eight days old. This must be done not only for your children born in your own house, but also for those that are bought and brought in from outside.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “From now on until generations to come, you (pl.) will-circumcise every male child at the age of eight days. You also circumcise the male slaves who were-born in your household and including the slaves you have bought from those from-other places. That sign in your body will-prove that my agreement with you will-continue forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Every male child among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old, in all future generations. That includes baby boys in your household or those born from slaves that have been bought, and baby boys of foreigners who live among you but do not belong to your household.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on Genesis 17:11 - 17:12

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins: this sentence serves to repeat and thus to emphasize the instruction given in the previous verse. Its aim is not to explain how to circumcise the penis. Some modern translations do not bring in this emphasis; note Good News Translation as an example. Note also that Good News Translation has combined verses 11-12 by reversing the order, so that the text here begins with the instructions to circumcise all babies on the eighth day, and concludes with circumcision being a sign of the covenant.

Translators may find that this rearrangement makes it easier to follow the thoughts. In languages in which a descriptive phrase is used for circumcision, the details involving the flesh of your foreskins may or may not be helpful. If this sentence obscures the act of circumcision, it may be best to follow the model of Good News Translation. Others who wish to keep it may need to adjust the sentence by saying, for example, “You shall be circumcised by removing [cutting off] the foreskin.” In any event the translation of this instruction must avoid sounding vulgar and unsuitable for public reading.

And it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you: it refers to the practice of circumcision, and this may need to be made clear in some languages; for example, “This custom will be as a sign of the contract I am making with you.” Sign translates the same term used in 1.14 and 9.12. See 9.12 for discussion of “sign of the covenant,” which refers to the rainbow in the covenant God made with Noah.

He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised: an eight-day-old baby boy is called in Hebrew “a son of eight days,” just as Abraham was called “a son of ninety-nine years” in Gen 17.1. The sense is “When a baby boy is eight days old” or “On the eighth day after the birth of a baby boy.” No reason is given in the Old Testament for the eighth day; but this time was carefully observed, as seen in 21.4; Lev 12.3; Luke 1.59, 2.21; Phil 3.5.

Every male throughout your generations: your is plural and refers to Abraham and all his descendants. See verses 7, 9.

Whether born in your house: this and the following clauses further define every male in the first part of the verse. Born in your house refers, as in 14.14, to those males who were slaves or servants of Abraham. Those born in … house were entrusted with higher responsibilities in the camp than the slaves who were purchased later in life. Good News Translation calls them “slaves born in your homes.” Translators should refer to the expression used in 14.14.

The second group to be included are all the males bought with your money from any foreigner. These are the purchased slaves, slaves who were already born, youths or adults, whom Abraham acquired through purchase. The final clause, who is not of your [Abraham’s] offspring, further qualifies the foreigner from whom the slave was purchased. Offspring translates Hebrew “seed.” New Jerusalem Bible has “not of your descent.” The sense is that both categories of slaves must be circumcised, those you possess who were born into service (in your house) and those you bought. This is the meaning as given in Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, New Revised Standard Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .