Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.
Parallel translations
- WEB Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- KJV Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
- BSB Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks no more.
- 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 Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
- Deut 30:6Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
- Lev 26:41I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity;
- Col 2:11in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ;
- Rom 2:28–29For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
- Deut 9:6Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people.
- Jer 4:14Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
- Deut 9:13Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
- Deut 31:27For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?
- Jas 4:6–7But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.