Uncircumcised; Uncircumcision un-sur'-kum-sizd, un-sur-kum-sizh'-un: The adjective in the Old Testament is `arel (Genesis 17:14, etc.), from a root of uncertain meaning, with the noun `orlah, "uncircumcised (person)" (Leviticus 19:23, Jeremiah 9:25), and the verb `aral, "count as uncircumcised" (Leviticus 19:23; the Revised Version (British and American) Habakkuk 2:16). In the Apocrypha and the New Testament the noun is akrobustia (a physiological term, Macc 1:15, Acts 11:3, etc.), and the adjective aperitmetos (Additions to Esther 14:15, Macc 1:48, 2:46, Acts 7:51), with the verb epispaomai, "become uncircumcised" (1 Corinthians 7:18). The language of 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 1 Corinthians 7:18) is the probable meaning.

See CIRCUMCISION.

Burton Scott Easton


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