Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was 99 years old, Adonai appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Continually walk before Me and you will be blameless. ² My heart’s desire is to make My covenant between Me and you, and then I will multiply you exceedingly much.”

³ Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, ⁴ “For My part, because My covenant is with you, you will be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I make you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ Yes, I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come forth from you. ⁷ Yes, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, in order to be your God and your seed’s God after you. ⁸ I will give to you and to your seed after you the land where you are an outsider—the whole land of Canaan—as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ God also said to Abraham, “As for you, My covenant you must keep, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant that you must keep between Me and you and your seed after you: all your males must be circumcised. ¹¹ You must be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this will become a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² Also your eight-day-olds must be circumcised, every male, throughout your generations, including a house-born slave or a slave bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. ¹³ Your house-born slave and your purchased slave must surely be circumcised. So My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—that person will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her by the name Sarai. Rather, Sarah is her name. ¹⁶ And I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her and she will give rise to nations. Kings of the peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to his heart, “Will a son be born to a 100-year-old man? Or will Sarah—who is 90 years old—give birth?” ¹⁸ So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹ But God said, “On the contrary, Sarah your wife will bear you a son and you must name him Isaac. So I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you. See, I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him very very much. He will father twelve princes and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My covenant will I establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”

²² When He finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all of his house-born slaves and all his purchased slaves—every male among the men of Abraham’s house—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, just as God had spoken with him. ²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, ²⁵ and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ On this very same day Abraham and Ishmael his son were circumcised. ²⁷ Also all the men of his house, house-born slaves and slaves purchased from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.