Genesis 17–18

CHAPTER 17

Circumcision, the Sign of the Covenant

¹Now it happened that when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^aYahweh appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am ¹God ^bAlmighty;

Walk before Me and be ^2cblameless,

²so that I may ¹confirm My ^acovenant between Me and you,

And that I may ^bmultiply you exceedingly.”

³Then Abram ^afell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying,

⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,

And you will be the father of a ^amultitude of nations.

⁵“And no longer shall your name be called ¹Abram,

But ^ayour name shall be ²Abraham;

For ^bI have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶“And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^akings will go forth from you.

⁷“And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an ^aeverlasting covenant, ^bto be God to you and ^cto your seed after you.

⁸“^aAnd I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and ^bI will be their God.”

⁹God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^ayou shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰“^aThis is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹“And ^ayou shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.

¹²“And every male among you who is ^aeight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, one who is born in the house or one who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your seed.

¹³“A servant who is born in your house or ^awho is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised; thus shall My covenant be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

¹⁴“But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^acut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

Sarah Will Bear Isaac

¹⁵Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ¹Sarah shall be her name.

¹⁶“And I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^aa son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^bkings of peoples will ¹come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham ^afell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to a man one hundred years old? And ^bwill Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?”

¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you ^aa son, and you shall call his name ¹Isaac; and ^bI will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

²⁰“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him and ^awill make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. ^bHe shall ¹become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a ^cgreat nation.

²¹“But My covenant I will establish with ^aIsaac, whom ^bSarah will bear to you at this season next year.”

²²So He finished talking with him, and ^aGod went up from Abraham.

²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were ^aborn in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the very same day, ^bas God had spoken with him.

²⁴Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when ^ahe was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

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

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

²⁷Now all the men of his household, who were ^aborn in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

CHAPTER 18

Yahweh Appears to Abraham

¹Then ^aYahweh appeared to him by the ^1boaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

²And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three ^amen were standing nearby; he saw, and he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed himself to the earth,

³and he said, “¹My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ²pass Your servant by.

⁴“Please let a little water be brought and ^awash your feet, and ¹rest yourselves under the tree;

⁵and let me ^1abring a piece of bread, that you may ²refresh your hearts; after that you may pass on, since in such a manner you have passed by your servant.” And they said, “So you shall do, as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “¹Hurry, prepare ²three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make bread cakes.”

⁷Abraham also ran to the herd and took a tender and ¹choice calf and gave it to his young man, and he hurried to prepare it.

⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰And He said, “^aI will surely return to you ¹at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him.

¹¹Now ^aAbraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^bpast ¹childbearing.

¹²And Sarah laughed ¹to herself, saying, “^aAfter I am worn out, shall I have pleasure, my ^blord being old also?”

¹³And Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ¹bear a son, when I am so old?’

¹⁴“^aIs anything too ¹difficult for Yahweh? At the ^bappointed time I will return to you, ²at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Then Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

Yahweh and Abraham Speak About Sodom

¹⁶Then ^athe men rose up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off.

^17aNow Yahweh said, “Shall I conceal from Abraham ^bwhat I am about to do,

¹⁸since Abraham will surely become a great and ¹mighty nation, and in him ^aall the nations of the earth will be blessed?

¹⁹“For I have ^1aknown him, so that he may ^bcommand his children and his household after him, ^cthat they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham ^dwhat He has spoken about him.”

²⁰So Yahweh said, “^aThe outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

²¹“I will ^ago down now and see whether they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²²Then ^athe men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^bYahweh.

²³Then Abraham came near and said, “^aWill You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴“Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ¹spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?

²⁵“Far be it from You to do ¹such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^athe Judge of all the earth do justice?”

²⁶So Yahweh said, “^aIf I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ¹spare the whole place on their account.”

²⁷And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^adust and ashes.

²⁸“Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”

³⁰Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹And he said, “Now behold, I have ¹ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.”

³²Then he said, “^aOh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”

³³And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, ^aYahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.