Chapter 17

The Covenant and Its Sign.^{[a] 1} When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty.^[b] Walk before me and be blameless. ² I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly.”

³ Abram immediately fell down upon his face. God said to him, ⁴ “On my part, behold, my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. ⁵ You will no longer be called Abram, but Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.^{[c] 6} I will make you very, very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and you shall give birth to kings. ⁷ I will establish my covenant with you for all generations. It will be an eternal covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants after you this land where you are now an alien. All of the land of Canaan shall be your eternal possession. I will be your God.”

⁹ God said to Abraham, “On your part, you must observe my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for all time. ¹⁰ This is my covenant that you must observe, a covenant between me and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall circumcise the flesh of the male member. This shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Whenever baby boys are eight days old, they will be circumcised, whether they are your own children or the children of those whom you bought and who are foreigners and not of your bloodline. ¹³ You must circumcise those who are born in your house and those who are bought by you. Thus, my covenant will be marked in your flesh as an eternal covenant. ¹⁴ The male who is not circumcised, the one whose flesh of his member is not circumcised, is to be cut off from his people. He will have violated my covenant.”

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, she will no longer be called Sarai, but rather Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and I will give you and her a son. I will bless her so that she shall become the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall descend from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham bowed down to the earth and laughed^[d] when he thought, “Shall a man who is one hundred years old have a son? And Sarah, who is ninety years old, can she give birth?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live in your presence!”

¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant, that I will be his God and the God of his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and very, very numerous. Twelve princes shall come from him and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. Sarah shall give birth to him by this time next year.” ²² God thus finished speaking to Abraham, and rising into the heavens, he left him.

²³ Abraham therefore took Ishmael his son and all those born into his house and all those whom he had bought—all the males belonging to the household of Abraham—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as the Lord had commanded him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised. ²⁵ Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised that same day. ²⁷ And all the men of his household, those born in his house and those foreigners bought with money, were circumcised with him.