The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. ² And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you.”

³ Abram fell on his face and God said to him, ⁴ “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. ⁸ All the land of Canaan, where you now live as strangers, I will give to you and to your descendants for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² Every male throughout every generation that is eight days old shall be circumcised, whether born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised shall be cut off from his people. He has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” ²² Then He stopped talking with Abraham, and God went up from him.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ His son, Ishmael, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ All the men born in Abraham’s household or bought from foreigners were circumcised with him.