un-sûr´kum-sı̄zd, un-sûr-kum-sizh´un: The adjective in the Old Testament is ערל, ̀‛ārēl ([Gen 17:14], etc.), from a root of uncertain meaning, with the noun ערלה, ‛orlāh, “uncircumcised (person)” ([Lev 19:23]; [Jer 9:25]), and the verb ערל, ‛āral, “count as uncircumcised” ([Lev 19:23]; the Revised Version (British and American) [Hab 2:16]). In the Apocrypha and the New Testament the noun is ἀκροβυστία, akrobustı́a (a physiological term, 1 Macc 1:15; [Act 11:3], etc.), and the adjective ἀπερίτμητος, aperı́tmetos (Additions to Esther 14:15; 1 Macc 1:48; 2:46; [Act 7:51]), with the verb ἐπισπάομαι, epispáomai, “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.
