Genesis 17
17
God made an agreement with Abram
1Later on, when Abram was 99 years old, God showed himself to Abram and said, “I am God. I have power over everything. I want you to live my way and always do the right thing. 2If you do that, I will make an agreement with you, and I will give you a really big family. You see, you will have a son, and later on lots of people will be born into his family, and they will be a real big family.”
3Abram got down on his knees and put his face near the ground, to show respect to God, and God said to him, 4“I promise that I will do this for you. I will give you a big family. Lots of people will be born into your family, so that you will be the father of lots of nations. 5So I am changing your name from Abram to Abraham.” (That name Abram means father that people respect, and that name Abraham means father of lots of people.) And God said, “Yes, I will make you the father of lots of nations.#Romans 4:17 6I will give you a real big family later on, and they will split up into lots of nations. And some of your people will be the big bosses of those nations.
7I am making this agreement with you, and with all your family that will be born later on. This agreement will last for ever. It will never end. I promise that I will be your God, for ever.#Luke 1:55 8You see, you are now living in this country called Canaan, but it doesn’t belong to you. But later on, I will give all this country to the people that will be born into your family. They will have this country for themselves for ever, and I will be their God.”#Acts 7:5
9Then God said to Abraham, “You have to agree to this. You and everyone that will be born into your family later on, you mob have to always respect me and let me be your God. 10-11This is what you have to do to show that we made this agreement together. You and every man in your camp has to have the young man operation. And all the men born into your family later on will have to have it too.#Acts 7:8; Romans 4:11 12-13From now on, every baby boy in your camp has to have that young man operation 8 days after he is born. Every man in your family has to have that operation. And if you buy a man to work for you, he has to have that operation too. Every male person has to have that mark on his body. It will show that we made this agreement, you and me, and that this agreement will last for ever. 14Any man that doesn’t have that operation will be breaking our agreement, and I will take him away from your family.”
God promised a son to Abraham and Sarah
15Then God said to Abraham, “I am changing your wife’s name too. Don’t call her Sarai any more. Call her Sarah.” (Both of those names mean important woman.) 16And God said, “I will do a good thing for her too. She will have a son, and you will be his father. Yes, I will do that good thing for her. Lots of people will be born into her son’s family, and they will split up into lots of nations. And some of those people will be the big bosses of those nations.”
17Abraham got down on his knees again and put his face near the ground, and he laughed. He thought, “I am nearly 100 years old, and Sarah is nearly 90. We can’t have a baby. We are too old.” 18So then Abraham said to God, “Look, I already have a son, Ishmael. I want you to be good to him, so that he will be that son you are talking about.”
19God said, “No, not Ishmael. Listen, your wife Sarah will have a baby boy. He will be your son, and you will call him Isaac.” (That name Isaac means laugh.) And God said, “He will be the son I’m talking about. I will keep this agreement going with him. It will be the same for him, and for all the people that will be born into his family later on. This agreement will go on for ever.
20And you asked me to do good things for Ishmael. Well, I listened to you, and I will be good to him too. He will have a big family, and later on, 12 big bosses will be in his family. I will make his mob into a great nation. 21But my agreement will not be with Ishmael. You see, about this time next year, your wife Sarah will have a baby boy. He will be your son, and you will call him Isaac, and I will make the same agreement with him that I just made with you.”
22After God said all that, he left Abraham.
23-27Then, on that same day, Abraham did a young man operation on every man and every boy in his camp. All Abraham’s work-men had that operation. They were the work-men that Abraham bought, and the work-men that were born in his camp. And Abraham and his son Ishmael had that operation too. They all had that operation on the same day. Ishmael was 13 years old, and Abraham was 99 years old, when they had that young man operation.
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Genesis 17
17
1And after he began to be ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to him: and said unto him: I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be perfect.
2And I will make my covenant between me and thee: and I will multiply thee exceedingly.
3Abram tell flat on his face.
4And God said to him: I AM, And my covenant is with thee; and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
5Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram. But thou shalt be called Abraham: because I have made thee a father of many nations.
6And I will make thee increase, exceedingly: and I will make nations of thee; and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8And I will give to thee, and to thy seed, the land of thy sojournment, all the land of Chanaan for a perpetual possession: and I will be their God.
9Again God said to Abraham: And thou therefore shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
10This is my covenant which you shall observe, between me and you, and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised.
11And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin: that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12An infant of eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations. He that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock.
13And my covenant shall be in your flesh, for a perpetual covenant.
14The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant.
15God said also to Abraham: Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call Sarai, but Sara.
16And I will bless her, and of her I will give thee a son, whom I will bless: and he shell become nations, and kings of people shall spring from him.
17Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: Shall a son, thinkest thou, be born to him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sara that is ninety years old bring forth?
18And he said to God: O that Ismael may live before thee.
19And God said to Abraham: Sara, thy wife, shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him for a perpetual covenant, and with his seed after him.
20And as for Ismael I have also heard thee. Behold, I will bless him, and increase, and multiply him exceedingly: he shall beget twelve chiefs, and I will make him a great nation.
21But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sara shall bring forth to thee at this time in the next year.
22And when he had left off speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23And Abraham took Ismael his son, and all that were born in his house; and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house. And he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin forthwith the very same day, as God had commanded him.
24Abraham was ninety and nine years old, when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.
25And Ismael his son was full thirteen years old at the time of his circumcision.
26The selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ismael his son.
27And all the men of his house, as well they that were born in his house, as the bought servants and strangers were circumcised with him.
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.