Genesis 15–17

Yahweh’s Covenant with Abram

15After these things the word of Yahweh came^a to Abram in a vision, saying: “Do not be afraid, Abram; I am your shield, and your reward shall be very great.” ²Then^b Abram said, “O Yahweh, my Lord, what will you give me? I continue to be^c childless, and my heir^d is Eliezer of Damascus.” ³And Abram said, “Look, you have not given me a descendant, and here, a member of my household^e is my heir.”^{f 4}And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him saying, “This person will not be your heir,^g but your own son will be your heir.”^{h 5}And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶And he believed in Yahweh, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. ⁷And he said to him, “I am Yahweh, who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to you, to possess it.” ⁸And he said, “O Yahweh God, how shall I know that I will possess it?” ⁹And he said to him, “Take for me a three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰And he took for him all these and cut them in pieces down the middle. And he put each piece opposite the other,ⁱ but the birds he did not cut. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. ¹²And it happened, as the sun went down,^j then a deep sleep fell upon Abram and, behold, a great terrifying darkness fell upon him. ¹³And he said to Abram, “You must surely know^k that your descendants shall be as aliens in a land not their own.^l And they shall serve them^m and theyⁿ shall oppress them four hundred years. ¹⁴And also the nation that they^o serve I will judge. Then^p afterward they shall go out with great possessions. ¹⁵And as for you, you shall go to your ancestors^q in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And the fourth generation shall return here, for the guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete.”^{r 17}And after the sun had gone down and it was dusk, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between those half pieces. ¹⁸On that day Yahweh made^s a covenant with Abram saying, “To your offspring I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Sarai and Hagar

16Now^a Sarai, the wife of Abram, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian female slave, and her name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, please, Yahweh has prevented me from bearing children. Please go in to my servant; perhaps I will have children by her.”^b And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³Then^c Sarai, the wife of Abram, took Hagar, her Egyptian female slave, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband as his wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she^d saw that she had conceived, then her mistress grew small in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, “may my harm be upon you. I had my slave sleep with you,^e and when she saw that she had conceived, she no longer respected me.^f May Yahweh judge between me and you!” ⁶And Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave is under your authority.^g Do to her that which is good in your eyes.” And Sarai mistreated her, and she^h fled from her presence.

Hagar and the Angel of Yahweh

⁷And the angel of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness, at the spring by the road of Shur. ⁸And he said to Hagar, the female slave of Sarai, “From whereⁱ have you come, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of Sarai my mistress.” ⁹Then^j the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her authority.”^{k 10}And the angel of Yahweh said to her, “I will greatly multiply^l your offspring, so that they cannot be counted for their abundance.” ¹¹And the angel of Yahweh said to her:

“Behold, you are pregnant

and shall have a son.

And you shall call his name Ishmael,

for Yahweh has listened to your suffering.

¹²And he shall be a wild donkey of a man,

his hand will be against everyone,

and the hand of everyone will be against him,

and he will live in hostility with all his brothers.”^m

¹³Soⁿ she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are El-Roi,”^o for she said, “Here I have seen after he who sees me.” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-Lahai-Roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar had a child for Abram, a son. And Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore to him, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty-six years old^p when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Abram and Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

17When^a Abram was ninety-nine years old^b Yahweh appeared to Abram. And he said to him, “I am El-Shaddai;^c walk before me and be blameless ²so that^d I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you exceedingly.”^{e 3}Then Abram fell upon his face and God spoke with him, saying, ⁴“As for me, behold, my covenant shall be with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵Your name shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶And I will make you exceedingly^f fruitful. I will make you a nation, and kings shall go out from you. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant to be as God for you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien,^g all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham, “Now as for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you, and also with^h your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²And at eight days of ageⁱ you shall yourselves circumcise every male belonging to your generations and the servant born in your house and the one bought from any foreigner^j who is not from your offspring. ¹³You must certainly circumcise^k the servant born in your house and the one bought with your money.^l And my covenant shall be with your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And as for any uncircumcised male who has not circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his^m people. He has broken my covenant. ¹⁵And God said to Abraham, “as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶And I will bless her; moreover, I give to you from her a son. And I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations.ⁿ Kings of peoples shall come^o from her.” ¹⁷And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed. And he said in his heart, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old,^p or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?”^{q 18}And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹And God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear a son for you, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant to his offspring after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly.^r He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this appointed time next year.” ²²When^s he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³And Abraham took Ishmael his son and all who were born of his house, and all those acquired by his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on the same day that God spoke with him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old^t when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old^u when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those acquired by money from a foreigner,^v were circumcised with him.