CHAPTER 17
When Abram
was
ninety-nine
years
old,
the LORD
appeared
to
him
and said,
“I
am God
Almighty.
Walk
before Me
and be
blameless.
No
longer will
you be called
Abram,
but your name
will be
Abraham,
for
I have made
you the father
of many
nations.
I will make you exceedingly
fruitful;
I will make
nations of you,
and kings
will descend
from you.
I will establish
My covenant
as an everlasting
covenant
between Me and you
and your descendants
after you,
to be
your God
and the God of your descendants
after you.
And to you and your descendants
I will give
the land
of your sojourn—
all
the land
of Canaan—
as an eternal
possession;
and I will be
their God.”
God
also said
to
Abraham,
“As for you,
you must keep
My covenant,
you
and your descendants
for the generations
to come.
This
is My covenant
with
you and your descendants
after you,
which
you are to keep:
Every
male among you
must be circumcised.
You are to circumcise
the flesh
of your foreskin,
and this will be
a sign
of the covenant
between Me and you.
Generation after generation,
every
male
must be circumcised
when he is eight
days old,
including those born
in your household
and those purchased
from a
foreigner—
even those
who
are not
your offspring.
Whether they are born
in your household
or purchased,
they must be circumcised.
My covenant
in your flesh
will be
an everlasting
covenant.
But if any male
is not
circumcised,
he
will be cut off
from his people;
he has broken
My covenant.”
Then God
said
to
Abraham,
“As for Sarai
your wife,
do not
call
her Sarai,
for
her name is to be
Sarah.
And I will bless her
and will surely
give
you
a son
by her.
I will bless her,
and she will be
the mother of nations;
kings
of peoples
will descend
from her.”
Abraham
fell facedown.
Then he laughed
and said
to himself,
“Can a child be born
to a man who is
a hundred
years old?
Can Sarah
give birth
at the age of ninety?”
But God
replied,
“Your wife
Sarah
will indeed
bear
you a son,
and you are to name
him
Isaac.
I will establish
My covenant
with
him as an everlasting
covenant
for his descendants
after him.
As for Ishmael,
I have heard you,
and I will surely
bless
him;
I will make him fruitful
and multiply him greatly.
He will become the father
of twelve
rulers,
and I will make
him into a great
nation.
But
I will establish
My covenant
with
Isaac,
whom
Sarah
will bear
to you
at this
time
next
year.”
Then Abraham
took
his son
Ishmael
and all
those born
in his household
or purchased
with his money—
every
male
among the members
of Abraham’s
household—
and he circumcised them
that
very
day,
just as
God
had told
him.
And all
the men
of Abraham’s household—
both servants born
in his household
and those purchased
from foreigners—
were circumcised with him.