How can the nations be called circumcised?
Gregory is commenting on Jeremiah's phrase about circumcised nations, asking how Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab can be called circumcised alongside Judah.
How can the word call them circumcised, and then name not only Jews, not only Israelites, not only the house of Jacob, not even the proper name that lies before us, Judah, but list among them Egypt, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and the sons of Moab, as though all of them were uncircumcised in their hearts? Does the word mean something like this: that the sons of Israel seem to have the law of circumcision, but they differ in no way from the rest of the uncircumcised nations, since they too are uncircumcised in their hearts and have not cut away their evils?
I say, then, that the word wants to say something like this: the sons of Judah have the word of circumcision and the other oracles of God, yet they differ in no way from those who do not have the law of God, Egypt and Edom, the sons of Ammon and the sons of Moab. Or does it at some point call all of them circumcised together, not only the Israelites and the Jews, but also the rest of the nations, as the letters that are read also make clear? For it called all of them circumcised, and then it placed Egypt and Judah and the rest of the nations under that heading.
And how is it possible to say that all of them are circumcised? If someone should reason from the beginning about all these named nations that lie before us, he would find that they come from the descendants of Abraham. Abraham was circumcised when he was ninety-nine years old, he and his sons, Ishmael and all the men of his house, both the homeborn and those bought with silver from foreign nations. He circumcised them. For these things are recorded word for word in Genesis.
How, then, does he bring the circumcision down to the Egyptians, and to Edom, and to the sons of Moab, and to the sons of Ammon? Ishmael was circumcised, as I said, according to the law, when he was about thirteen years old, since he was Abraham's son by Hagar the Egyptian maidservant. And a little later: "Ishmael was settled," it says, "in the desert, and he became an archer, and he lived in the desert. And his mother took for him an Egyptian wife" (Genesis 21:20-21).
Greek
Πῶς περιτετμημένους ὀνομάσας ὁ λό-γος, εἶτα οὐκ Ἰουδαίους μόνον ὀνομάζει, οὐ-δὲ Ἰσραηλίτας, οὐδὲ τὸν οἶκον Ἰακὼβ, οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τὸ κείμενον ὄνομα τὸ οἰκεῖον, Ἰούδα, 593 ἀλλ' ἐγκαταλέγει τούτοις καὶ Αἴγυπτον, καὶ Ἐδὼμ, καὶ υἱοὺς Ἀμμὼν, καὶ υἱοὺς
Μωὰβ, ὡς πάντας ἀπεριτμήτους καρδίας αὐτῶν; ἄ-ρα γὰρ τοιοῦτόν τι θέλει εἰπεῖν ὁ λόγος, ὅτι δὴ δοκοῦσι μὲν ἔχειν τὸν νόμον τὸν τῆς περιτομῆς οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ, οὐδὲν δὲ διαφέρουσι τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν ἀπεριτμήτων, ἀπερίτμητοι ὄντες καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἀποτετμημένοι τὰς κακίας; Ἄρα, φημὶ, τοιοῦτόν τι εἰπεῖν βούλεται ὁ λόγος, ὅτι ἔ-χουσι μὲν τὸν λόγον τὸν τῆς περιτομῆς καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰούδα, οὐ-δὲν μέν τοι διαφέρουσι τῶν οὐκ ἐχόντων τὸν νόμον τοῦ Θεοῦ, Αἰγύπτου καὶ Ἐδὼμ, υἱῶν Ἀμμὼν καὶ υἱῶν Μωάβ; Ἢ μέν ποτε πάντας ὁμοῦ περιτετμη-μένους καλεῖ, οὐ μόνον τοὺς Ἰσραηλίτας καὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη, ὡς δηλοῖ καὶ τὰ ἀναγινωσκόμενα γράμματα; πάντας γὰρ ἐκάλεσε περιτετμη-μένους, εἶτα ὑπέταξεν Αἴγυπτον καὶ Ἰούδαν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἔθνη. Καὶ πῶς ἐστι προσαχθῆναι πάντας αὐτοὺς εἰπεῖν περιτετ-μημένους; Πάντα τὰ ὀνομασθέντα ταῦτα ἔθνη τὰ προκείμενα, εἴ τις ἄνωθεν συλλογίζοιτο, εὕροι ἂν ἐκ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ. Ἁβραὰμ περιετμήθη ὢν ἐτῶν ἐννέα καὶ ἐννενήκοντα, αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, Ἰσμαὴλ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἱ οἰκογενεῖς, καὶ οἱ ἀργυρόνητοι, οἱ ἐξ ἀλλογενῶν ἐθνῶν· περιέτεμεν αὐτούς. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐπὶ λέξεως τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα ἐν τῇ Γενέσει. Πῶς οὖν ἐπ' Αἰγυπτίους καταβιβάζει, καὶ ἐπ' Ἐδώμ, καὶ ἐπὶ υἱοὺς Μωὰβ, καὶ ἐπὶ υἱοὺς Ἀμ-μὼν τὴν περιτομήν; Περιτέτμηται μὲν ὁ Ἰσμαὴλ, ὡς ἔφην, κατὰ νόμον, τρισκαιδε-καετής που ὢν, οἷα δὴ υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ ἐκ τῆς Ἄγαρ τῆς παιδίσκης τῆς Αἰγυ-πτίας. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Καὶ κατῳκίσθη, φησὶν, ὁ Ἰσμαὴλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, καὶ ἐγένετο τοξότης, 594 καὶ ᾤκησε τὴν ἔρημον. Ἠγάγετο δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ τὴν αἰγυπτίαν γυναῖκα.