Genesis 17-20

New American Standard Bible 1995

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^(A)the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

³ Abram ^(F)fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^(J)kings will come forth from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[f]descendants after you throughout their generations for an ^(K)everlasting covenant, ^(L)to be God to you and ^(M)to your ^[g]descendants after you. ^8 (N)I will give to you and to your ^[h]descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and ^(O)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(P)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[i]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (Q)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[j]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(R)you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² And every male among you who is ^(S)eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ^[k]descendants. ¹³ A servant who is born in your house or ^(T)who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^(U)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 ^[l]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(V)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(W)kings of peoples will ^[m]come from her.” ¹⁷ Then Abraham ^(X)fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And ^(Y)will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you ^(Z)a son, and you shall call his name ^[n]Isaac; and ^(AA)I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his ^[o]descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and ^(AB)will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. ^(AC)He shall ^[p]become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a ^(AD)great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with ^(AE)Isaac, whom ^(AF)Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” ²² When He finished talking with him, ^(AG)God went up from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants who were ^(AH)born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, ^(AI)as God had said to him. ²⁴ Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^(AJ)he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And ^(AK)Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. ²⁷ All the men of his household, who were ^(AL)born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(AM)the Lord appeared to him by the ^[q](AN)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(AO)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, ³ and said, “^[r]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[s]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(AP)wash your feet, and ^[t]rest yourselves under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[u](AQ)bring a piece of bread, that you may ^[v]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[w]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[x]Quickly, prepare three ^[y]measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[z]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[aa]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(AR)I will surely return to you ^[ab]at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(AS)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(AT)past ^[ac]childbearing. ¹² Sarah laughed ^[ad]to herself, saying, “^(AU)After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(AV)lord being old also?” ¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ^[ae]bear a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (AW)Is anything too ^[af]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(AX)appointed time I will return to you, ^[ag]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(AY)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (AZ)The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham ^(BA)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and ^[ah]mighty nation, and in him ^(BB)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[ai](BC)chosen him, so that he may ^(BD)command his children and his household after him to ^(BE)keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^(BF)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “^(BG)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(BH)go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²² Then ^(BI)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(BJ)the Lord. ²³ Abraham came near and said, “^(BK)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[aj]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[ak]such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(BL)the Judge of all the earth ^[al]deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “^(BM)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[am]spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ^[an]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^(BN)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[ao]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(BO)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^(BP)the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Doom of Sodom

19 Now the ^(BQ)two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ^(BR)Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and ^[ap]bowed down with his face to the ground. ² And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” ³ Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^(BS)and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴ Before they lay down, ^(BT)the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ^[aq]from every quarter; ⁵ and they called to Lot and said to him, “^(BU)Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ^[ar]have relations with them.” ⁶ But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, ⁷ and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. ⁸ Now behold, ^(BV)I have two daughters who have not ^[as]had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ^[at]whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ^[au]shelter of my roof.” ⁹ But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in ^[av]as an alien, and already ^(BW)he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against ^[aw]Lot and came near to break the door. ¹⁰ But ^(BX)the men reached out their ^[ax]hands and brought Lot into the house ^[ay]with them, and shut the door. ^11 (BY)They ^[az]struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹² Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; ¹³ for we are about to destroy this place, because ^(BZ)their outcry has become so great before the Lord that ^(CA)the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who ^[ba]were to marry his daughters, and said, “Up, ^(CB)get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city.” ^(CC)But he appeared to his sons-in-law ^[bb]to be jesting.

¹⁵ When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the ^[bc]punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But he hesitated. So the men ^(CD)seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the ^[bd]hands of his two daughters, for ^(CE)the compassion of the Lord was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. ¹⁷ When they had brought them outside, ^[be]one said, “^(CF)Escape for your life! ^(CG)Do not look behind you, and do not stay ^[bf]anywhere in the ^(CH)valley; escape to ^(CI)the ^[bg]mountains, or you will be swept away.” ¹⁸ But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! ¹⁹ Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the ^[bh]mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; ²⁰ now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) ^[bi]that my life may be saved.” ²¹ He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this ^[bj]request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. ²² Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the name of the town was called ^[bk](CJ)Zoar.

²³ The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴ Then the Lord ^(CK)rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, ²⁵ and ^(CL)He overthrew those cities, and all the ^[bl]valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. ²⁶ But his wife, from behind him, ^(CM)looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷ Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to ^(CN)the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸ and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the ^[bm]valley, and he saw, and behold, ^(CO)the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a ^[bn]furnace.

²⁹ Thus it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the ^[bo]valley, that ^(CP)God remembered Abraham, and ^(CQ)sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Lot Is Debased

³⁰ Lot went up from Zoar, and ^[bp](CR)stayed in the ^[bq]mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to ^[br]stay in Zoar; and he ^[bs]stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man ^[bt]on earth to ^(CS)come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, ^(CT)let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve ^[bu]our family through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve ^[bv]our family through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and called his name ^(CU)Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the ^[bw]sons of ^(CV)Ammon to this day.

Abraham’s Treachery

20 Now Abraham journeyed from ^(CW)there toward the land of ^(CX)the ^[bx]Negev, and ^[by]settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in ^(CY)Gerar. ² Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “^(CZ)She is my sister.” So ^(DA)Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ^3 (DB)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, ^(DC)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is ^[bz]married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, ^(DD)will You slay a nation, even though ^[ca]blameless? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she ^(DE)herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In ^(DF)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my ^[cb]hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also ^[cc](DG)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for ^(DH)he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

⁸ So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. ^9 (DI)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And ^[cd]how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom ^(DJ)a great sin? You have done to me ^[ce]things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you ^[cf]encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no ^(DK)fear of God in this place, and ^(DL)they will kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; ¹³ and it came about, when ^(DM)God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is ^[cg]the kindness which you will show to me: ^[ch]everywhere we go, ^(DN)say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ^14 (DO)Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “^(DP)Behold, my land is before you; ^[ci]settle wherever ^[cj]you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your ^(DQ)brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is ^[ck]your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” ^17 (DR)Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. ^18 (DS)For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.