The Sign of the Covenant

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 blameless.^{(A) 2} And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.”^{(B) 3} Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.^{(C) 5} No longer shall your name be Abram,^[b] but your name shall be Abraham,^[c] for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations.^{(D) 6} I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.^{(E) 7} I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.^{(F) 8} And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding, and I will be their God.”^(G)

⁹ 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.^{(H) 11} You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.^{(I) 12} Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.^(J)

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”^(A)

Fullness of Life in Christ

⁶ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.^(A)

⁸ Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.^{(B) 9} For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.^{(C) 11} In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,^[b] by the removal of the body^[c] of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;^{(D) 12} when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.^(E)

²³ On that day you will ask nothing of me.^[a] Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.^{[b] 24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.^(A)

Peace for the Disciples

²⁵ “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but will tell you plainly of the Father. ²⁶ On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.^{[c](B) 28} I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”^(C)

²⁹ His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! ³⁰ Now we know that you know all things and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.”^(D)