Surrounded by three men, the naked Christ Child looks directly at us. One of them wields the knife, another holds the child with a white cloth, while a third, wearing glasses, reads ritual texts. The scene depicts the ancient ritual of circumcision, which in Judaism seals the covenant with God to this day. Circumcision is also practiced in Islam, based on a recommendation of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to biblical tradition, Jesus too was circumcised as the child of Jewish parents. His parents, Mary and Joseph, are not permitted to be present and peer in from behind a curtain that serves as a partition. Details such as the folding table, the drip bowls, and the empty chair prepared for the expected Prophet Elijah suggest that the painter was familiar with the ritual.

At the same time, he adorned the garments of the Jewish figures with pseudo-Hebrew inscriptions and – according to one possible interpretation – depicted their faces in an anti-Jewish, exaggerated manner. This reflects the marginalization of Jewish people by Christian majorities at the time, which extended to acts of violence.