Ezekiel 28:10

28:10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised ¹  by the hand of foreigners;

for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 32:19-32

32:19 Say to them, ²  ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? ³  Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!’ 32:20 They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; they carry her and all her hordes away. 32:21 The bravest of the warriors will speak to him from the midst of Sheol along with his allies, saying: ‘The uncircumcised have come down; they lie still, killed by the sword.’

32:22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave, ⁴  all of them struck down by the sword. ⁵  32:23 Their ⁶  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ⁷  Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.

32:24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit. 32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. ⁸  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.

32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. ⁹  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 32:27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, ¹⁰  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ¹¹  when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

32:28 “But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those killed by the sword.

32:29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.

32:30 “All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.

32:31 “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled over all his hordes who were killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, declares the sovereign Lord. 32:32 Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Amos 3:2

3:2 “I have chosen ¹²  you alone from all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

Romans 2:8-9

2:8 but ¹³  wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition ¹⁴  and do not obey the truth but follow ¹⁵  unrighteousness. 2:9 There will be ¹⁶  affliction and distress on everyone ¹⁷  who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek, ¹⁸ 

Romans 2:25-26

2:25 For circumcision ¹⁹  has its value if you practice the law, but ²⁰  if you break the law, ²¹  your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys ²²  the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Galatians 5:2-6

5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey ²³  the whole law. 5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous ²⁴  by the law have been alienated ²⁵  from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love. ²⁶ 

[28:10]  ¹ sn The Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so the language here must be figurative, indicating that they would be treated in a disgraceful manner. Uncircumcised peoples were viewed as inferior, unclean, and perhaps even sub-human. See 31:18 and 32:17-32, as well as the discussion in D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:99.

[32:19]  ² tc The LXX places this verse after v. 21.

[32:19]  ³ tn Heb “pleasantness.”

[32:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.

[32:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.

[32:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “whose.”

[32:23]  ⁷ tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.

[32:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

[32:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

[32:27]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech-Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.

[32:27]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear; in light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend “their iniquities” to “their swords.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.

[3:2]  ¹² tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”

[2:8]  ¹³ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”

[2:9]  ¹⁶ tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”

[2:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “every soul of man.”

[2:9]  ¹⁸ sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.

[2:25]  ¹⁹ sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomh) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).

[2:25]  ²⁰ tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.

[2:25]  ²¹ tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”

[2:26]  ²² tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

[5:3]  ²³ tn Or “keep”; or “carry out”; Grk “do.”

[5:4]  ²⁴ tn Or “trying to be justified.” The verb δικαιοῦσθε (dikaiousqe) has been translated as a conative present (see ExSyn 534).

[5:4]  ²⁵ tn Or “estranged”; BDAG 526 s.v. καταργέω 4 states, “Of those who aspire to righteousness through the law κ. ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ be estranged from Christ Gal 5:4.”

[5:6]  ²⁶ tn Grk “but faith working through love.”