Exodus 6:12 - On the expression for speech difficulty

(The above rendering incorporates a proposed correction of punctuation in the second printing of the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation.)

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Heb. עֲרַל שְׂפָתָיִם. Lexicographers posit that the noun עָרֵל (of which עֲרַל is the construct form) derives from the more concrete noun עָרְלָה (foreskin) and thus literally means “uncircumcised.” Its masculine form reflects the speaker’s application of this descriptor to a specific non-womanly person (namely, himself), according to Hebrew’s rules of referential gender concord.

Yet there is no warrant for rendering in gendered terms in English, because Moses’ gender is both already understood and not germane.

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As for rendering into English, the NJPS “a man of impeded speech” is misleading in that it employs a construction that is properly used for disclosing a crucial quality about the person under discussion—a quality that is essential for understanding the depicted situation. (According to Webster’s dictionary, the expression “man of ___” means “a male human being belonging to a particular and usually specified category [as by birth, residence, or membership],” but that definition overlooks the discourse function of the situating noun man.) That formulation is not appropriate here, because the quality in question has already been disclosed (Exod 4:10, ‏לֹא֩ אִ֨ישׁ דְּבָרִ֜ים אָנֹ֗כִי “I have never been a man of words”); it is a given at this point, as is Moses’ role as God’s agent.

The proper rendering ought to be like the Hebrew: an expression composed of concrete, non-gendered terms; a curt and even blunt utterance. Hence, “—me, who gets tongue-tied.” (Similarly other idiomatic translations: NRSV: “poor speaker that I am”; NIV: “I speak with faltering lips.”)