Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^[a] walk before me, and be ^(A)blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and ^(B)may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram ^(C)fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(D)the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram,^[b] but ^(E)your name shall be Abraham,^{[c] (F)}for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make ^(G)you into nations, and ^(H)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(I)establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, ^(J)to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸ And ^(K)I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and ^(L)I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a ^(M)sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² He who is ^(N)eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or ^(O)bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³ both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah^[d] shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will ^(P)give^[e] you a son by her. I will bless her, and ^(Q)she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(R)fell on his face ^(S)and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹ God said, “No, but ^(T)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name ^(U)Isaac.^[f] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and ^(V)multiply him greatly. He ^(W)shall father twelve princes, and ^(X)I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But ^(Y)I will establish my covenant with Isaac, ^(Z)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

²² When he had finished talking with him, ^(AA)God went up from Abraham. ²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very 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 day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷ And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

In the Shadow of Your Wings

A ^(A)Prayer of David.

17 Then allotment was made to the people of Manasseh, for he was ^(A)the firstborn of Joseph. To ^(B)Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, ^(C)were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. ² And allotments were made ^(D)to the rest of the people of Manasseh by their clans, Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh the son of Joseph, by their clans.

³ Now ^(E)Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, but only daughters, and these are the names of his daughters: ^(F)Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴ They approached ^(G)Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the leaders and said, ^(H)“The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance along with our brothers.” So according to the mouth of the Lord he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. ⁵ Thus there fell to Manasseh ten portions, besides ^(I)the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is on the other side of the Jordan, ⁶ because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance along with his sons. The land of Gilead was allotted to the rest of the people of Manasseh.

⁷ The territory of Manasseh reached from Asher to ^(J)Michmethath, which is east of Shechem. Then the boundary goes along southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. ⁸ The land of ^(K)Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but the town of Tappuah on the boundary of Manasseh belonged to the people of Ephraim. ^9 (L)Then the boundary went down to the brook Kanah. These cities, to the south of the brook, among the cities of Manasseh, belong to Ephraim. Then the boundary of Manasseh goes on the north side of the brook and ends at the sea, ¹⁰ the land to the south being Ephraim's and that to the north being Manasseh's, with the sea forming its boundary. On the north Asher is reached, and on the east Issachar. ¹¹ Also in Issachar and in Asher ^(M)Manasseh had Beth-shean and its villages, and Ibleam and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^(N)Dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^(O)Taanach and its villages, and the inhabitants of ^(P)Megiddo and its villages; ^(Q)the third is Naphath.^{[a] 12 (R)}Yet the people of Manasseh could not take possession of those cities, but the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. ¹³ Now when the people of Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites ^(S)to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

¹⁴ Then ^(T)the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but ^(U)one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am ^(V)a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” ¹⁵ And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and ^(W)the Rephaim, since ^(X)the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ¹⁶ The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have ^(Y)chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in ^(Z)the Valley of Jezreel.” ¹⁷ Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only, ¹⁸ but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, ^(AA)though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”