Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Parallel translations
- WEB Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- BSB Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
- NKJV Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.
- NASB So circumcise your heart, and do not stiffen your neck any longer.
- NLT Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses calls Israel to circumcise their hearts and stop being stubborn. God seeks inward transformation, not merely outward ritual.
Overview
Beyond physical circumcision, God demands a circumcised heart, a removal of inward resistance to Him. The command exposes that the people's deepest problem is internal and spiritual. Scripture later promises that God Himself will circumcise the heart, fulfilled in the new birth and the Spirit's work through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 4:4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Deut 30:6And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
- Lev 26:41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
- Col 2:11In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
- Rom 2:28–29For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
- Deut 9:6Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
- Jer 4:14O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
- Deut 9:13Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
- Deut 31:27For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
- Jas 4:6–7But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 10:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.