circumcise, circumcision

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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)
  • Cheke Holo: “peel for the purpose of making a sign” (source: Freddy Boswell in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 132ff. )
  • 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)
  • Cherokee: “de-head” (source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 33)

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Circumcision .

Joshua

The Hebrew, Latin, and Greek that is transliterated as “Joshua” is translated in Swiss-German Sign Language with a sign that depicts a trumpet of rams’ horn, referring to Joshua 6:4 and following.


“Joshua” in Swiss-German Sign Language, source: DSGS-Lexikon biblischer Begriffe , © CGG Schweiz

For more information on translations of proper names with sign language see Sign Language Bible Translations Have Something to Say to Hearing Christians .

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Joshua .

complete verse (Joshua 5:7)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joshua 5:7:

  • Kupsabiny: “So, Joshua circumcised the children of those people instead of their fathers.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “So he raised up their sons to take their place, The sons of these men had never been circumcised. So Joshua circumcised them on the way.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Their male children who succeeded them (were) the-(ones) Josue circumcised, because they had- not -been-circumcised at the time they journeyed.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “The sons of those who had disobeyed Yahweh were the ones whom Joshua circumcised at Gilgal. They were circumcised because they had not been circumcised while they were traveling in the desert.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("raise up / make happen")

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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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, okos-are-ru (起こされる) or “raise up / make happen” is used.

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

Translation commentary on Joshua 5:7

It is important that these men not be taken as a reference back to ancestors of the previous verse, as may be suggested by Good News Translation restructuring. In order to ease the situation, one may render “these men who had disobeyed the LORD” or “these men whom the LORD had brought out of Egypt.”

This new generation represents the Hebrew “those whom he (the LORD) raised up in their place.” A literal rendering of the text, such as Revised Standard Version, may suggest that the focus is upon the action of the Lord in raising up a new generation. Actually the real focus is upon the new generation which now takes the place of the previous one, “In the meantime the sons had taken the place of their fathers.”

The meaning of Joshua circumcised is “(whom) Joshua caused (or, commanded) to be circumcised.” Direct discourse is also possible: “It was this generation to whom Joshua said, ‘Get yourselves circumcised.’ ”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Joshua 5:7

5:7a

And: Verse 7 is a summary of verses 5–6. The Hebrew word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And is a connector word. It shows the relationship between this verse and the preceding verses.

Here are some other ways to translate this word:

That is why
-or-
In light of that
-or-
So, for that reason

You should translate this word with a connecting word or phrase that is most natural in your language.

Joshua raised up their sons in their place: The phrase raised up their sons in their place could mean that either God or Joshua allowed the sons of the men who had died to take their place. Although the Berean Standard Bible translates this clause as if Joshua raised up these people, most English versions follow the Hebrew and use the pronoun “he,” which can refer to either interpretation.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

he raised up their sons in their place (New International Version)
-or-
he replaced them with their sons (NET Bible)
-or-
their sons—those who had grown up to take their fathers’ places (New Living Translation (2004))

raised up their sons: The phrase their sons is the object of the sentence, and it is emphasized in the Hebrew text. The construction raised up their sons is a way of emphasizing their sons in English. You should choose a way that is natural in your language to emphasize this phrase.

their sons: The phrase their sons refers to the male children of the people who died in the wilderness because they disobeyed God. And their sons make up the same group of men as those referred to in verse 5:4a.

5:7b

these were the ones he circumcised: The clause these were the ones refers to the words “their sons” in verse 5:7a. Joshua circumcised the sons of the men who died in the wilderness. It may be more natural to reorder the verse. You could put the relative clause next to the noun it modifies. For example, you could say:

So, it was their children whom Joshua circumcised, those whom God had raised up instead of them

5:7c

Until this time they were still uncircumcised: It may be more natural in some languages to leave this clause implicit and untranslated, because the meaning is included in 5:7d. Consider whether such repetition is natural in your language.

5:7d

since they had not been circumcised along the way: The phrase along the way refers to the time that the Israelites walked through the wilderness for forty years.

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