Jeremiah 9:26

26. Egypt… Judah, etc. Many commentators, and among them Ewald and Nagelsbach, understand from this passage that all the peoples enumerated practised the rite of circumcision. But there is not sufficient historical proof of this; indeed there is positive evidence to the contrary. For instance. Josephus ( Ant., Jeremiah 13:9 ; Jeremiah 13:1) tells how John Hyrcanus offered the Edomites the alternative of circumcision, which they accepted. We conclude, then, that the statement, all these nations are uncircumcised, means all nations besides Israel, and that the word “these,” which the translators have inserted, should be thrown out.

All that are in the utmost corners Rather, all who have the corners of their hair shorn. The allusion is to certain Arabian tribes who were accustomed to crop the edges of the beard, and to cut off the hair from the temples, a practice forbidden to the Israelites. Leviticus 19:27.