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Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision
Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.
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No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
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God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
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Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
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Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?”
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And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”
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When He finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
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Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the slaves who were 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 on this very same day, as God had said to him.
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Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
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On this very same day Abraham was circumcised, as well as his son Ishmael.
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Birth of Isaac Promised
Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
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So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly, prepare three measures of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.”
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Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.
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Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.
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But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
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Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.
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The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
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since Abraham will certainly become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
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For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
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Abraham Appeals for Sodom
Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord.
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Abraham approached and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
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And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.
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As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
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Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord;
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So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
