1 Samuel 14:6

14:6 Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come on, let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will intervene ¹  for us. Nothing can prevent the Lord from delivering, whether by many or by a few.”

1 Samuel 17:26

17:26 David asked the men who were standing near him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation? ²  For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?”

1 Samuel 17:36

17:36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. ³  For he has defied the armies of the living God!”

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ⁴  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ⁵  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 1:20

1:20 After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 9:25-26

9:25 The Lord says, “Watch out! ⁷  The time is soon coming when I will punish all those who are circumcised only in the flesh. ⁸  9:26 That is, I will punish the Egyptians, the Judeans, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples. ⁹  I will do so because none of the people of those nations are really circumcised in the Lord’s sight. ¹⁰  Moreover, none of the people of Israel ¹¹  are circumcised when it comes to their hearts.” ¹² 

Ezekiel 44:7-9

44:7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate ¹³  it – even my house – when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You ¹⁴  have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners ¹⁵  to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 44:9 This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “act.”

² tn Heb “and turns aside humiliation from upon Israel.”

³ tc The LXX includes here the following words not found in the MT: “Should I not go and smite him, and remove today reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one?”

⁴ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

⁵ tn Heb “to meet.”

⁶ tn Heb “because from the Lord I asked him.” The name “Samuel” sounds like the Hebrew verb translated “asked.” The explanation of the meaning of the name “Samuel” that is provided in v. 20 is not a strict etymology. It seems to suggest that the first part of the name is derived from the Hebrew root שׁאל (sh’l, “to ask”), but the consonants do not support this. Nor is it likely that the name comes from the root שׁמא (shm’, “to hear”), for the same reason. It more probably derives from שֶׁם (shem, “name”), so that “Samuel” means “name of God.” Verse 20 therefore does not set forth a linguistic explanation of the meaning of the name, but rather draws a parallel between similar sounds. This figure of speech is known as paronomasia.

⁷ tn Heb “Behold!”

⁸ tn Heb “punish all who are circumcised in the flesh.” The translation is contextually motivated to better bring out the contrast that follows.

⁹ tn Heb “all those who are cut off on the side of the head who live in the desert.” KJV and some other English versions (e.g., NIV “who live in the desert in distant places”; NLT “who live in distant places”) have followed the interpretation that this is a biform of an expression meaning “end or remote parts of the [far] corners [of the earth].” This interpretation is generally abandoned by the more recent commentaries and lexicons (see, e.g. BDB 802 s.v. פֵּאָה 1 and HALOT 858 s.v. פֵּאָה 1.β). It occurs also in 25:33; 49:32.

¹⁰ tn Heb “For all of these nations are uncircumcised.” The words “I will do so” are supplied in the translation to indicate the connection with the preceding statement.

¹¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

¹² tn Heb “And all the house of Israel is uncircumcised of heart.”

¹³ tn Heb “to desecrate.”

¹⁴ tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”

¹⁵ tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.

¹⁶ sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.