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 forth from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[f]descendants after you throughout their generations for an ^(K)everlasting covenant, ^(L)to be God to you and ^(M)to your ^[g]descendants after you. ^8 (N)I will give to you and to your ^[h]descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for 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, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ^[k]descendants. ¹³ A servant who is born in your house or ^(T)who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But an uncircumcised male 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 Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ^[l]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 ^[m]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 one hundred years old? And ^(Y)will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you ^(Z)a son, and you shall call his name ^[n]Isaac; and ^(AA)I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his ^[o]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(AB)will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. ^(AC)He shall ^[p]become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a ^(AD)great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with ^(AE)Isaac, whom ^(AF)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²² When He finished talking with him, ^(AG)God went up from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were ^(AH)born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, ^(AI)as God had said to him. ²⁴ Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^(AJ)he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And ^(AK)Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. ²⁷ All the men of his household, who were ^(AL)born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

²¹ And He was saying to them, “^(A)A lamp is not brought to be put under a ^[a]basket, is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? ^22 (B)For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ^23 (C)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And He was saying to them, “Take care what you listen to. ^[b](D)By your standard of measure it will be measured to you; and more will be given you besides. ^25 (E)For whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

Parable of the Seed

²⁶ And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷ and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸ The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the crop permits, he immediately ^[c](F)puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (G)And He said, “How shall we ^[d](H)picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³² yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that ^(I)the birds of the ^[e]air can nest under its shade.”

³³ With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; ³⁴ and He did not speak to them ^(J)without a parable; but He was ^(K)explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Stills the Sea

^35 (L)On that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ^36 [f]Leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^(M)in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷ And there *arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸ Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they *woke Him and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And He got up and ^(N)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and ^[g]it became perfectly calm. ⁴⁰ And He said to them, “Why are you ^[h]afraid? ^(O)Do you still have no faith?” ⁴¹ They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”