Genesis 17

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Live your life in my presence, and be blameless."

1And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Note"God Almighty" translates the Hebrew title *El Shaddai*, whose exact sense is uncertain; older guesses connect it to words for "mountain" or "breast," and the traditional English "Almighty" comes from the ancient Greek and Latin translations rather than from a known Hebrew meaning. "Walk before me" is an idiom for conducting your whole life in someone's sight, the way a servant lives under the eye of his master. "Blameless" renders a word meaning whole, sound, unblemished, the same word used of an animal without physical defect, rather than flawless moral perfection.

2"I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply your descendants greatly."

2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement of the kind ancient nations made between a great king and a lesser one: it stated who the parties were, what each owed the other, how long it held, and what sign or ceremony sealed it. The word is legal and political, not sentimental.

3Abram fell facedown on the ground, and God went on talking with him, saying,

3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

NoteFalling face down on the ground was the standard gesture of homage before a king or a superior in the ancient Near East, the body flat, forehead to the ground. It signals recognition of rank, not necessarily emotion.

4"As for me, look: my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of many nations."

4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

5"You will no longer be called Abram. Your name will be Abraham, because I have made you the father of many nations."

5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

NoteThe name change is a play on sound. *Abram* means roughly "exalted father"; *Abraham* is an expanded form of the same name that the text links to the phrase "father of a multitude" (*av hamon*). The two forms may originally have been dialect variants of one name, but the story treats the longer one as carrying the promise.

6"I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and kings will come from you."

6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

7"I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, through all their generations, as a covenant that lasts forever, to be God to you and to your descendants after you."

7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

8"And to you and to your descendants after you I will give the land where you now live as a foreigner, the whole land of Canaan, to hold forever. And I will be their God."

8And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

NoteCanaan was the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, covering roughly modern Israel, the Palestinian territories, and parts of Lebanon and Jordan. A "foreigner" here is a resident alien, someone living long-term in a country where he holds no ancestral land and no citizen's rights, dependent on the goodwill of the locals.

9God said to Abraham, "So you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, through all their generations."

9And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.

10"This is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised."

10This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

NoteCircumcision is the cutting away of the foreskin of the penis. Several peoples of the ancient Near East, including the Egyptians, practiced it, often at puberty or before marriage; what is distinctive here is doing it to infants and treating it as the mark of an agreement.

11"You are to cut off the foreskin of your flesh, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you."

11And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

12"Every male among you, in every generation, must be circumcised when he is eight days old. This includes the one born in your house and the one bought with money from any foreigner, who is not your own offspring."

12And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

Note"Bought with money" refers to slaves. In this period a wealthy man's household included people born into his service and people purchased from outsiders, and both counted as members of the household rather than as outsiders living nearby, which is why the requirement extends to them.

13"The one born in your house and the one bought with your money must certainly be circumcised. So my covenant will be marked in your flesh as a covenant that lasts forever."

13He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

14"Any uncircumcised male, whose foreskin has not been cut off, will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."

14And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.

Note"Cut off from his people" is a set legal phrase whose precise force is disputed even among ancient interpreters: it may mean expulsion from the community, execution, or dying without descendants. The Hebrew also puts a grim pun in the sentence, the man who is not cut is himself cut off.

15God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai. Her name will be Sarah."

15And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

Note*Sarai* and *Sarah* both mean "princess." They appear to be two forms of the same name, one older or dialectal, so unlike Abram/Abraham the change carries no new meaning in itself; the point is that God renames her at all.

16"I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."

16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

17Then Abraham fell facedown on the ground and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?"

17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

NoteThe laugh matters because of the Hebrew: the verb "laughed" is *tsachaq*, and the son's name Isaac (*Yitzchaq*) means "he laughs" or "he will laugh." The English hides a pun that runs through the next several chapters. Whether Abraham's laugh is disbelief, joy, or both is left open by the text.

18And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live in your presence!"

18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

NoteIshmael is Abraham's son by Hagar, Sarai's Egyptian slave, born when Abraham was eighty-six (told in chapter 16). At this point he is Abraham's only son and heir.

19But God said, "Your wife Sarah really will bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as a covenant that lasts forever, and with his descendants after him."

19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Note"Isaac" represents the Hebrew *Yitzchaq*, "he laughs", the name preserves Abraham's reaction in the previous verses.

20"And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Look: I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply his descendants greatly. He will father twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation."

20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

Note"I have heard you" is a play on the name Ishmael (*Yishma'el*), which means "God hears." The "twelve rulers" are tribal chieftains, heads of nomadic clans rather than kings of cities; twelve of them are named in Genesis 25.

21"But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this same set time next year."

21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

22Then God finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

22And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

Note"Went up from him" is the ordinary Hebrew way of saying a superior ended an audience and departed; it marks the close of the conversation.

23That very same day Abraham took Ishmael his son, and everyone born in his house, and everyone bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and he cut off the foreskin of their flesh, just as God had told him.

23And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.

24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the foreskin of his flesh was cut off.

24And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when the foreskin of his flesh was cut off.

25And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

26On that very same day Abraham was circumcised, and so was Ishmael his son.

26In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

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

27And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.