In this chapter i undertake a systematic investigation of congenital or acquired alterations to the body that are classified by biblical texts as “defects” (mûmîm). “Defects” constitute a significant, although by no means comprehensive, category of disability in the biblical anthology. Even though blindness, lameness, and several other physical conditions are included among biblical “defects,” deafness, muteness, and various diseases, as well as mental disability, are not categorized as such, and this chapter attempts to identify the rationale behind what constitutes a “defect.” Biblical “defects” tend to have negative social ramifications for those who possess them, and therefore, the social dynamics of “defects” are explored in some depth. Persons with “defects” are frequently stigmatized by biblical authors, who also assign them marginal social positions. This is accomplished through the deployment of discourses of profanation, curse, and hatred, among others, as well as through association with devalued characteristics (e.g., weakness, vulnerability, ignorance) and other marginal categories of persons (e.g., the poor, the alien). The degree to which the stigmatizing and marginalizing “defect” is a particular social construction native to a specific cultural context is brought into relief by the exceptional case of male circumcision. Constructed by biblical texts as normative, although it is an imposed alteration to the body not unlike other imposed alterations cast as “defects” (e.g., the cutting off of a lip or an eyelid), circumcision is socially and ritually enabling rather than disabling.