⁴ Consider then how great this Melchizedek was. Even Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, recognized this by giving him a tenth of what he had taken in battle.

²⁹ “Dear brothers, think about this! You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn’t referring to himself, for he died and was buried, and his tomb is still here among us.

Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered.

²⁸ There is no longer Jew or Gentile,^[a] slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children^[b] of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

¹⁷ That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”^[a] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.

¹⁸ Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”^[b]

¹¹ Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. ¹² And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³ Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.

⁸ “God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. So when Abraham became the father of Isaac, he circumcised him on the eighth day. And the practice was continued when Isaac became the father of Jacob, and when Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Israelite nation.

⁹ “These patriarchs were jealous of their brother Joseph, and they sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him

⁵ What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham,^[a] for you will be the father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them!

² I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

²³ And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”^[a] He was even called the friend of God.^[b]