The Circumcision of Gershom

And it came to pass on the way, in the place where they spent the night, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him.

Then Żippora took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody bridegroom art thou to me.

So he let him go: then she said, A bloody bridegroom thou art, because of the circumcision.

He [Moshe] was along the way, in the inn, [an Angel of] Adonoy confronted him, and wanted to kill him. Tzipporah took a flint-stone and cut off her son’s foreskin, and threw it at his feet [brought it before him], saying, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me [With this blood of circumcision, a husband is given to us].” He then withdrew from him [Moshe. Then she said, “[You are] a bridegroom of blood [to me] because of the circumcision [Were it not for this blood of circumcision, my husband would have deserved to be killed].”

But it was on the way, in the place of lodging that the angel of the Lord met him, and sought to kill him, because Gershom his son had not been circumcised, inasmuch as Jethro his father-in-law had not permitted him to circumcise him: but Eliezer had been circumcised, by an agreement between them two. And Zipporah took a stone, and circumcised the foreskin of Gershom her son, and brought the severed part to the feet of the angel, the Destroyer, and said, The husband sought to circumcise, but the father-in-law obstructed him; and now let this blood of the circumcision atone for my husband. And the destroying angel desisted from him, so that Zipporah gave thanks, and said, How lovely is the blood of this circumcision that hath delivered my husband from the angel of destruction!