17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep24 the covenantal requirement25 I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep:26 Every male among you must be circumcised.27
tn The imperfect tense could be translated “you shall keep” as a binding command; but the obligatory nuance (“must”) captures the binding sense better.
25
tnHeb “my covenant.” The Hebrew word בְּרִית (bérit) can refer to (1) the agreement itself between two parties (see v. 7), (2) the promise made by one party to another (see vv. 2–3, 7), (3) an obligation placed by one party on another, or (4) a reminder of the agreement. In vv. 9–10 the word refers to a covenantal obligation which God gives to Abraham and his descendants.
26
tnHeb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”
27
sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557–96.