What Does Leviticus 12:3 Mean in the King James?
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The covenant’s sign reaches the body itself: what is removed from the flesh becomes a visible mark of belonging.
THE MEANING
Here, covenant reaches beyond an inward idea and touches the body, where the act leaves a visible sign. The eighth day gives that sign an appointed time.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what is sacred concerns only inward life: the verse places its sign on the flesh.
THE ROOT
יִמּוֹל
yimmol
GROWS FROM
מוּל
mūl
To circumcise; to remove the foreskin.
“shall be circumcised” in this verse is yimmol. This verb names an actual removal from the flesh. Genesis 17:11 uses the same root and calls circumcision a token of covenant, so the bodily act carries a relational sign as well as a physical one.
ALSO GROWS
milah: Circumcision; the rite.
מִילָה
The noun names the same act as a rite, linking this verse’s verb to the wider language of the covenantal sign.
nimol: Was circumcised; underwent circumcision.
נִמּוֹל
This form describes the body as receiving the sign, matching the verse’s focus on what is done to the infant.
THE PATTERN
The bodily covenant mark points toward a deeper cutting away that opens the heart.
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.In 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:THE THREAD
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.Genesis uses the same Hebrew root, מוּל (mūl, to circumcise), and names the act as a covenant token. That connection makes the physical mark legible as a sign of belonging, not an isolated bodily detail.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us