The Sign of the Covenant^(A)

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord ^(B)appeared to Abram and said to him, ^(C)“I am ^[a]Almighty God; ^(D)walk before Me and be ^(E)blameless. ² And I will make My ^(F)covenant between Me and you, and ^(G)will multiply you exceedingly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(H)a father of ^[b]many nations. ⁵ No longer shall ^(I)your name be called ^[c]Abram, but your name shall be ^[d]Abraham; ^(J)for I have made you a father of ^[e]many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make ^(K)nations of you, and ^(L)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(M)establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^(N)to be God to you and ^(O)your descendants after you. ⁸ Also ^(P)I give to you and your descendants after you the land ^(Q)in^[f] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(R)I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham: “As for you, ^(S)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: ^(T)Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be ^(U)a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you ^(V)shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any 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, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person ^(W)shall be 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 ^[g]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ And I will bless her ^(X)and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother ^(Y)of nations; ^(Z)kings of peoples shall be from her.”

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

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, ^(AC)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My ^(AD)covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and ^(AE)will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget ^(AF)twelve princes, ^(AG)and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My ^(AH)covenant I will establish with Isaac, ^(AI)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this ^(AJ)set time next year.” ²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

²³ So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, 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 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; ²⁷ and ^(AK)all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Abraham Justified by Faith^(A)

4 What then shall we say that ^(B)Abraham our ^(C)father^[a] has found according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was ^(D)justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? ^(E)“Abraham believed God, and it was ^[b]accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁴ Now ^(F)to him who works, the wages are not counted ^[c]as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

⁵ But to him who ^(G)does not work but believes on Him who justifies ^(H)the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, ⁶ just as David also ^(I)describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

⁹ Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰ How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. ¹¹ And ^(K)he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that ^(L)he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, ¹² and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father ^(M)Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

¹³ For the promise that he would be the ^(N)heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For ^(O)if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, ¹⁵ because ^(P)the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith that it might be ^(Q)according to grace, ^(R)so that the promise might be ^[d]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, ^(S)who is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, ^(T)“I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, ^(U)who gives life to the dead and calls those ^(V)things which do not exist as though they did; ¹⁸ who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ^(W)“So shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹ And not being weak in faith, ^(X)he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), ^(Y)and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, ²¹ and being fully convinced that what He had promised ^(Z)He was also able to perform. ²² And therefore ^(AA)“it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

²³ Now ^(AB)it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, ²⁴ but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe ^(AC)in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, ^25 (AD)who was delivered up because of our offenses, and ^(AE)was raised because of our justification.