1When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said to Abram, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence with integrity. 2I will give you my promise,#17:2 Or “covenant.” and I will give you very many descendants.” 3Immediately, Abram bowed with his face touching the ground, and again God spoke to him, 4“My promise is still with you. You will become the father of many nations. 5So your name will no longer be Abram [Exalted Father], but Abraham [Father of Many] because I have made you a father of many nations. 6I will give you many descendants. Many nations and kings will come from you. 7I will make my promise to you and your descendants for generations to come as an everlasting promise. I will be your God and the God of your descendants. 8I am also giving this land where you are living—all of Canaan—to you and your descendants as your permanent possession. And I will be your God.”

9God also said to Abraham, “You and your descendants in generations to come are to be faithful to my promise. 10This is how you are to be faithful to my promise: Every male among you is to be circumcised. 11All of you must be circumcised. That will be the sign of the promise from me to you. 12For generations to come every male child who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether he is born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner who’s not related to you. 13Every male born in your household or bought with your money is to be circumcised without exception. So my promise will be a sign on your flesh, an everlasting promise. 14Any uncircumcised male must be excluded from his people because he has rejected my promise.”

15God said to Abraham, “Don’t call your wife by the name Sarai anymore. Instead, her name is Sarah [Princess]. 16I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become ⌞a mother of⌟ nations, and kings will come from her.” 17Immediately, Abraham bowed with his face touching the ground. He laughed as he thought to himself, “Can a son be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, have a child?” 18Then Abraham said to God, “Why not let Ishmael be my heir?”

19God replied, “No! Your wife Sarah will give you a son, and you will name him Isaac [He Laughs]. I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants. 20I have heard your request about Ishmael. Yes, I will bless him, make him fertile, and increase the number of his descendants. He will be the father of 12 princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21But I will make my promise to Isaac. Sarah will give birth to him at this time next year.” 22When God finished speaking with Abraham, he left him.

Abraham’s Household Circumcised

23So Abraham took his son Ishmael, everyone born in his household, and everyone bought with money—every male in his household—and circumcised them that day, as God had told him. 24Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. 25His son Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised. 26That same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27All the men of his household, whether born in the household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

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Genesis 17

1 WHEN ABRAM was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am the Almighty God; walk and live habitually before Me and be perfect (blameless, wholehearted, complete).

2 And I will make My covenant (solemn pledge) between Me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.

3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God said to him,

4 As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations.

5 Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations.

6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you. [Gal. 3:16.]

8 And I will give to you and to your posterity after you the land in which you are a stranger [going from place to place], all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. [Acts 7:5.]

9 And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall therefore keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

10 This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your posterity after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

11 And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token or sign of the covenant (the promise or pledge) between Me and you.

12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male throughout your generations, whether born in [your] house or bought with [your] money from any foreigner not of your offspring.

13 He that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money must be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14 And the male who is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

15 And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai; but Sarah [Princess] her name shall be.

16 And I will bless her and give you a son also by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.

17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?

18 And [he] said to God, Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!

19 But God said, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac [laughter]; and I will establish My covenant or solemn pledge with him for an everlasting covenant and with his posterity after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard and heeded you: behold, I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. [Fulfilled in Gen. 25:12-18.]

21 But My covenant, My promise and pledge, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.

22 And God stopped talking with him and went up from Abraham.

23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among [those] of Abraham's house, and circumcised [them] the very same day, as God had said to him.

24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.

25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.

26 On the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son as well.

27 And all the men of his house, both those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised along with him.

1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

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Genesis 17

Genesis 17