Genesis 17
17
The Sign of the Covenant
1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty;#17.1 Traditional rendering of Heb El Shaddai walk before me, and be blameless. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram,#17.5 That is exalted ancestor but your name shall be Abraham;#17.5 Here taken to mean ancestor of a multitude for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring#17.7 Heb seed after you. 8And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
9God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” 19God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac.#17.19 That is he laughs I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” 22And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; 27and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
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Genesis 17: NRSV
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New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Genesis 17
17
1When Abram was 99, the Lord appeared to him and told him, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and don't do wrong.#17:1. “Live in my presence and don't do wrong,” literally, “walk before me and be innocent.” 2I will make my agreement between me and you, and I will give you many, many descendants.”
3Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God told him, 4“Listen! This is the agreement I'm making with you. You will be the father of many nations, 5so your name won't be Abram any longer. Instead, your name will be Abraham#17:5. The name change is usually interpreted to be from Abram (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many”). because I'm going to make you the father of many nations. 6I will make sure you have a large number of descendants. They will become many nations, and some of their kings will also come from your line. 7I promise to continue my agreement with you, and with your descendants who come after you, for generations to come. This is an eternal agreement. I will always be your God, and the God of your descendants. 8I will give you and your descendants the whole country of Canaan—where you've been living as a foreigner—as land to own forever, and I will be their God.”
9Then God told Abraham, “Your part is to keep my agreement—you and your descendants for generations to come. 10This is my agreement with you and your descendants who come after you, the agreement you are to keep: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11You are to circumcise your foreskin, and this will be the sign of the agreement between me and you. 12From now and for all generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. This includes not only your sons but also those born in your household or bought from foreigners. 13You must circumcise those born in your household or bought from foreigners as a sign in your bodies of my eternal agreement. 14Any uncircumcised male who refuses circumcision will be excluded from his people because he has broken my agreement.”
15Then God told Abraham, “Now about Sarai your wife. Don't call her Sarai any longer. Instead, her name will be Sarah. 16I will bless her and I promise to give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will become the mother of nations, and kings will be among her descendants.”
17Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground. But inside he was laughing, asking himself, “How on earth could I have a son at the age of one hundred? How could Sarah have a child when she is ninety?”
18Abraham said to God, “May Ishmael always live under your blessing!”
19“No, it's your wife Sarah who is going to have a son for you!” God replied. “You are to call him Isaac.#17:19. Isaac means “he laughs.” I will keep my agreement with him and his descendants as an eternal agreement. 20Now about Ishmael. I heard what you said, and I will also bless him. I will make sure he has a great many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But it's with Isaac that I will keep my agreement, the son Sarah will give birth to about this time next year.” 22When God had finished speaking with Abraham he left him.
23That day Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael as well as all those born in his household or purchased, in fact every male among the members of Abraham's household, just as God had told him. 24Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised, 25and his son Ishmael was thirteen. 26Both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. 27All the males in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or purchased from foreigners, were circumcised with him.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com