Genesis 15–17

The Abrahamic Covenant

15After these events, the word of the Lord came ^uto Abram in a vision:

Do not be afraid, ^vAbram.

I am your shield; ^w

your reward will be very great.

²But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ^x3Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in ^ymy house will be my heir.”

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body ^zwill be your heir.” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” ^a

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. ^b

⁷He also said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” ^c

⁸But he said, “Lord God, how can I know ^dthat I will possess it?”

⁹He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰So he brought all these to Him, split them down the middle, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut up the birds. ^e11Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²As the sun was setting, a deep sleep ^ffell on Abram, and suddenly great terror and darkness descended on him.

¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, ^g“Know this for certain: Your offspring will be foreigners ^hin a land that does not belong to them; they will be enslaved and oppressed ⁱ400 years. ^j14However, I will judge the nation they serve, ^kand afterward they will go out with many possessions. ^l15But you will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. ^m16In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” ^no

¹⁷When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, ^pfrom the brook of Egypt ^qto the Euphrates River: ^r19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, ²¹Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”

Hagar and Ishmael

16Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. ²Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ^s3So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. ⁴He slept with ^tHagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! ^uI put my slave in your arms, ^vand ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you.” ^w

⁶Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.

⁷The Angel of the Lord ^xfound her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”

She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”

⁹Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.” ^y10The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, ^zand they will be too many to count.”

¹¹Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:

You have conceived and will have a son.

You will name him Ishmael, ^a

for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.

¹²This man will be like a wild donkey.

His hand will be against everyone,

and everyone’s hand will be against him;

he will live at odds with ^ball his brothers. ^c

¹³So she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees, ^dfor she said, “In this place, have I actually seen ^ethe One who sees me?” ^f14That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” ^gIt is located between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son Hagar had. ¹⁶Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.

Covenant Circumcision

17When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. ^hLive in My presence and be blameless. ⁱ²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

³Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: ⁴“As for Me, My covenant is with you: you will become the father of many nations. ^j5Your name will no longer be Abram, ^kbut your name will be Abraham, ^lfor I will make you the father of many nations. ^m6I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. ⁷I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your future offspring throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant ⁿto be your God and the God of your offspring after you. ^o8And to you and your future offspring ^pI will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, ^qand I will be their God.”

⁹God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. ¹⁰This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. ¹¹You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ^rs12Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. ^tThis includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring, ¹³a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah ^uwill be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. ^vI will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed ^wand said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” ¹⁸So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to You!” ^x

¹⁹But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ^yI will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, ^zand I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ^a22When He finished talking with him, God withdrew ^bfrom Abraham. ^c

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. ²⁴Abraham was 99 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, ²⁵and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶On that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷And all the men of his household—both slaves born in his house and those purchased with money from a foreigner—were circumcised with him.