Epistle of Barnabas 9.6

Traditional ascription rejected: The letter names no author. From Clement of Alexandria (late second century) onward it was ascribed to Barnabas, Paul's companion (Acts 4:36), but its date and its hostility to Jewish practice make that unlikely; modern scholars treat it as anonymous.

Summary: Other peoples are circumcised too, so it cannot be the covenant's seal.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 24:372

ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖς· Καὶ μὴν περιτέτμηται ὁ λαὸς εἰς σφραγῖδα. ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶς Σύρος καὶ Ἄραψ καὶ πάντες οἱ ἱερεῖς τῶν εἰδώλων. ἄρα οὖν κἀκεῖνοι ἐκ τῆς διαθήκης αὐτῶν εἰσίν; ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐν περιτομῇ εἰσίν.

English · Claude translation

But you will say, “Surely the people was circumcised as a seal.” But so is every Syrian and Arab and all the priests of the idols. Are they, then, also of their covenant? Why, even the Egyptians practice circumcision.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 24:372 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 340–407 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 24. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 24, 1912); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture

Cite this passage

Barn. 9.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/6/).

Plain text
Barn. 9.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/barnabas/9/6/).

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