17Genesis 17

Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God. Obey me and always do what is right.Select Genesis 17:1

2I will make my covenant with you and give you many descendants.”Select Genesis 17:2

3Abram bowed down with his face touching the ground, and God said,Select Genesis 17:3

4“I make this covenant with you: I promise that you will be the ancestor of many nations.Select Genesis 17:4

5Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, because I am making you the ancestor of many nations.Select Genesis 17:5

6I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.Select Genesis 17:6

7“I will keep my promise to you and to your descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants.Select Genesis 17:7

8I will give to you and to your descendants this land in which you are now a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever, and I will be their God.”Select Genesis 17:8

9God said to Abraham, “You also must agree to keep the covenant with me, both you and your descendants in future generations.Select Genesis 17:9

10You and your descendants must all agree to circumcise every male among you.Select Genesis 17:10

12From now on you must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old, including slaves born in your homes and slaves bought from foreigners. This will show that there is a covenant between you and me.Select Genesis 17:12

13Each one must be circumcised, and this will be a physical sign to show that my covenant with you is everlasting.Select Genesis 17:13

14Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me.”Select Genesis 17:14

15God said to Abraham, “You must no longer call your wife Sarai; from now on her name is Sarah.Select Genesis 17:15

16I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations, and there will be kings among her descendants.”Select Genesis 17:16

17Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, “Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?”Select Genesis 17:17

18He asked God, “Why not let Ishmael be my heir?”Select Genesis 17:18

19But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant.Select Genesis 17:19

20I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants.Select Genesis 17:20

21But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac, who will be born to Sarah about this time next year.”Select Genesis 17:21

22When God finished speaking to Abraham, he left him.Select Genesis 17:22

23On that same day Abraham obeyed God and circumcised his son Ishmael and all the other males in his household, including the slaves born in his home and those he had bought.Select Genesis 17:23

24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,Select Genesis 17:24

25and his son Ishmael was thirteen.Select Genesis 17:25

26They were both circumcised on the same day,Select Genesis 17:26

27together with all of Abraham's slaves.Select Genesis 17:27