Mûl describes circumcising in the selected covenant passages, with literal bodily action and explicit heart imagery distinguished. Genesis 17:10-11 commands the bodily sign within God's covenant address to Abraham and his descendants.
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Full entry for מוּל (H4135) · Open the biblical lexicon
Mûl describes circumcising in the selected covenant passages, with literal bodily action and explicit heart imagery distinguished. Genesis 17:10-11 commands the bodily sign within God's covenant address to Abraham and his descendants.
The BSB source-word alignment has 37 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include circumcised (5), I cut them off (3), must be circumcised (3), . . . (2), had been circumcised (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 17:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (17), Joshua (8), Psalms (5), Deuteronomy (2).
Mûl describes circumcising in the selected covenant passages, with literal bodily action and explicit heart imagery distinguished. Genesis 17:10-11 commands the bodily sign within God's covenant address to Abraham and his descendants. Exodus 12:48 sets circumcision within a household's participation in Israel's Passover. Those instructions concern stated covenant circumstances and should not be replaced by an abstract inward meaning that denies their bodily reference.
Deuteronomy 10:16 uses circumcising the heart beside the command to stop stiffening the neck, while Deuteronomy 30:6 promises God's action upon the people's hearts so that they will love Him. These passages connect the imagery with responsive allegiance and love rather than a procedure on a physical heart. Christian application must then attend to Paul's arguments about faith, Spirit and justification. A lexical gloss cannot by itself decide every contemporary bodily practice or grant a rite the power to secure righteousness apart from Christ.
The bodily covenant sign and Passover participation rules stand beside Deuteronomy's heart command and restoration promise. Literal action, metaphorical obedience and God's promised work require distinct explanation before any transfer into Christian practice.
This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.
The command names male circumcision within the covenant addressed to Abraham's household and descendants. The next verse explicitly identifies its bodily sign function.
If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.
A resident foreigner's household is addressed in the rule for celebrating Israel's Passover. Participation terms belong to this particular covenant meal rather than an undefined religious ceremony.
Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
Circumcising the heart is paired with abandoning stiff-necked resistance. The surrounding call to love God and the foreigner gives the imagery an obedient relational direction.
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
The Lord's promised heart action is directed toward wholehearted love and life within return and restoration. Its subject is God, unlike the direct command in chapter 10.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Circumcision as covenant sign; cutting embodies divine obligation to remove spiritual obstruction and mark belonging to God's people.
Circumcision as covenant sign; cutting embodies divine obligation to remove spiritual obstruction and mark belonging to God's people.
to cut short, i.e. curtail (specifically the prepuce, i.e. to circumcise); by implication, to blunt; figuratively, to destroy BDB: circumcise Usage: circumcise(-ing), selves), cut down (in pieces), destroy, × must needs.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 36 lexical occurrence verses.
מוּל is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Deuteronomy 10 does not leave the image of a circumcised heart unexplained. It opposes a stiff neck within a call to love and serve the Lord, and the following verses describe divine impartiality, care for vulnerable people and love for the foreigner. Teaching the heart image apart from those responsibilities could make inwardness an excuse to ignore the concrete conduct the chapter requests.
Deuteronomy 30 gives God the subject position in a promise of restored heart allegiance. Genesis and Exodus preserve the bodily sign in their appointed settings, so neither the metaphor nor the promise should erase those historical instructions. Romans 2 and Galatians 5 supply their own Christian arguments about obedience, the Spirit and justification. A responsible connection follows those arguments and refuses both contempt for Jewish covenant history and the claim that adopting a bodily sign purchases righteousness in Christ.
Deut.10.16
The selected uses have either a bodily object or an explicitly metaphorical heart object. The construction and subject distinguish commanded practice, human response and promised divine action; not every occurrence gathered under the identifier is examined here.
Romans 2:25-29 examines outward sign and inward obedience, while Galatians 5:1-6 addresses attempts to be justified by law and emphasizes faith working through love. These explicit arguments guide Christian application. They should not be reduced to a dictionary verdict on every bodily or cultural circumstance.