¹⁴ The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “^(A)Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, ^(B)northward and southward, and eastward and westward; ^15 (C)for all the land which you see ^(D)I will give to you and to your ^[a]descendants forever. ¹⁶ I will make your ^[b]descendants ^(E)as plentiful as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your ^[c]descendants could also be counted. ¹⁷ Arise, ^(F)walk about in the land through its length and width; for ^(G)I will give it to you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent and came and lived by the ^[d](H)oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and there he built ^(I)an altar to the Lord.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^(A)the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

³ Abram ^(F)fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^(J)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[f]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(K)everlasting covenant, ^(L)to be God to you and ^(M)to your ^[g]descendants after you. ⁸ And ^(N)I will give to you and to your ^[h]descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(O)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(P)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[i]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (Q)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[j]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(R)you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² And every male among you who is ^(S)eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ^[k]descendants. ¹³ A slave who is born in your house or ^(T)who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^(U)cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name ^[l]Sarai, but ^[m]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(V)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(W)kings of peoples will ^[n]come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(X)fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And ^(Y)will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you ^(Z)a son, and you shall name him ^[o]Isaac; and ^(AA)I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his ^[p]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(AB)make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. ^(AC)He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a ^(AD)great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with ^(AE)Isaac, whom ^(AF)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

Israel’s Last Days

48 Now it came about after these things that ^[a]Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^(A)Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When ^[b]it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel ^[c]collected his strength and sat ^[d]up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “^[e](B)God Almighty appeared to me at ^(C)Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your ^[f]descendants after you as ^(D)an everlasting possession.’

^9 (A)Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are ^[a](B)an obstinate people. ¹⁰ So now ^(C)leave Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and ^(D)I will make of you a great nation.”

Moses’ Plea

¹¹ Then ^(E)Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said, “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should ^(F)the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘With evil motives He brought them out, to kill them on the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and relent of doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You ^(G)swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will ^(H)multiply your ^[b]descendants as the stars of the heavens, and ^(I)all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your ^[c]descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ^14 (J)So the Lord relented of the harm which He said He would do to His people.