Uncircumcised; Uncircumcision

un-sur'-kum-sizd, un-sur-kum-sizh'-un: The adjective in the Old Testament is `arel (Ge 17:14, etc.), from a root of uncertain meaning, with the noun `orlah, "uncircumcised (person)" (Le 19:23; Jer 9:25), and the verb `aral, "count as uncircumcised" (Le 19:23; the Revised Version (British and American) Hab 2:16). In the Apocrypha and the New Testament the noun is akrobustia (a physiological term, 1 Macc 1:15; Ac 11:3, etc.), and the adjective aperitmetos (Additions to Esther 14:15; 1 Macc 1:48; 2:46; Ac 7:51), with the verb epispaomai, "become uncircumcised" (1Co 7:18). The language of 1 Macc 1:15 suggests the performance of some surgical operation, but no such operation appears to be possible, and "behaved like uncircumcised persons" (as in 1Co 7:18) is the probable meaning.

See CIRCUMCISION.

Burton Scott Easton