TR: muwl -> peritemno (Circumcise)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT             LXX (Greek OT)           Greek NT
───────────           ───────────────           ────────
מוּל (muwl)       →   περιτέμνω (peritemno)  →  περιτέμνω (peritemno)
H4135, 32x             25x as translation        16x in NT
"circumcise"           of muwl                   "circumcise"

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H4135	מוּל (muwl)	32	circumcise; by extension, cut off/destroy
H4139	מוּלָה (muwlah)	1	circumcision (noun, Exo 4:26 only)

Key OT passages: - Gen 17:10 — "Every man child among you shall be circumcised" — institution of the covenant sign - Deut 30:6 — "The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God" — divine heart circumcision as eschatological promise - Jer 4:4 — "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart" — prophetic call for inward circumcision

Library: H4135-muwl.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occ	PMI Score	Notes
muwl (H4135)	περιτέμνω (G4059)	25x	30.32	Primary equivalent — near-exclusive mapping
muwl (H4135)	ἀμύνομαι (G292)	3x	11.74	"Ward off" — for Psa 118 "destroy" sense
muwl (H4135)	ἀπερίτμητος (G564)	4x	10.81	"Uncircumcised" — negated adjective form

Reverse bridge (what other Hebrew words does G4059 translate):

Hebrew Source	Co-occ	Notes
H4135 מוּל (muwl)	25x	Dominant — 25 of the LXX's G4059 uses trace to H4135
H6190 עׇרְלָה (orlah)	11x	"Foreskin" — collocates in circumcision passages

Semantic continuity in translation: The LXX preserves a tight 1:1 mapping. Hebrew muwl ("cut short, circumcise") becomes Greek peritemno ("cut around, circumcise"). Both the literal physical sense and the figurative heart-circumcision sense carry through — the LXX translates Deut 10:16 and 30:6 with the same verb, maintaining the metaphor.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G4059	περιτέμνω (peritemno)	16	circumcise (physical or spiritual)
G4061	περιτομή (peritome)	32	circumcision (the rite, condition, or people)
G564	ἀπερίτμητος (aperitmetos)	1	uncircumcised (Acts 7:51, echoing Deut 10:16)

Key NT passages: - Acts 7:8 — "He gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day" — Stephen recounts the OT institution - Col 2:11 — "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh" — spiritual circumcision fulfilled in Christ - Gal 5:2-3 — "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing... he is a debtor to do the whole law" — Paul's argument against mandatory physical circumcision for Gentiles

Library: TODO(need G4059 study)

Direct OT->NT Connections¶

NT Verse	References OT	Significance
Acts 7:8	Gen 17:10-12	Stephen's speech explicitly connects Abrahamic covenant circumcision
Col 2:11	Deut 30:6	Spiritual circumcision "made without hands" — echoes the divine agency of Deut 30:6 where God himself performs heart circumcision
Acts 7:51 (G564)	Deut 10:16	"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart" — direct echo of "circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffnecked"
Rom 2:29 (G4061)	Deut 30:6, Jer 4:4	"Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter" — Paul's formulation of OT heart circumcision theology

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - The core meaning "to circumcise" passes directly from Hebrew to Greek with no semantic distortion - The physical-to-spiritual metaphor trajectory already present in the OT (Deut 10:16, 30:6, Jer 4:4) is maintained and developed in the NT - The association with covenant identity persists — circumcision marks covenant membership in both testaments

What shifts: - In the OT, physical circumcision is universally commanded for covenant participation (Gen 17:14, Exo 12:48). In the NT, physical circumcision becomes optional or even counterproductive for Gentile believers (Gal 5:2-3, 1 Cor 7:18-19) - The OT's heart-circumcision promise (Deut 30:6) is eschatological — something God will do. The NT treats it as fulfilled in Christ (Col 2:11) — something God has done - The Deut 10:16 imperative ("circumcise your heart yourselves") becomes Stephen's indictment of those who failed to do so (Acts 7:51)