Genesis 17–20

Chapter 17

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

¹Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^athe Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am ¹God ^bAlmighty;

Walk before Me, and be ^2cblameless.

²“I will ¹establish My ^acovenant between Me and you,

And I will ^bmultiply you exceedingly.”

³Abram ^afell on his face, and God talked 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“No longer shall your name be called ¹Abram,

But ^ayour name shall be ²Abraham;

For ^bI will make you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶“I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^akings will come forth from you.

⁷“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ¹descendants after you throughout their generations for an ^aeverlasting covenant, ^bto be God to you and ^cto your descendants after you.

⁸“^aI will give to you and to your ¹descendants 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 ¹descendants after you throughout their generations.

¹⁰“^aThis is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ¹descendants 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, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ¹descendants.

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.”

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

¹⁶“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 child be born to a man one hundred years old? And ^bwill Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

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 ²descendants 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.”

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

²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the servants 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 said to 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.

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

Chapter 18

Birth of Isaac Promised

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

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

³and 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 I will ^1abring a piece of bread, that you may ²refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ³visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “¹Quickly, prepare three ²measures 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 the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.

⁸He 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 ¹as they ate.

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

¹⁰He 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.

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

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

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

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

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

^17aThe Lord said, “Shall I hide 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 ^1achosen him, so that he may ^bcommand his children and his household after him to ^ckeep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^dwhat He has spoken about him.”

²⁰And the Lord said, “^aThe outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

²¹“I will ^ago down now, and see if 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 ^bthe Lord.

²³Abraham 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 slay 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 ²deal justly?”

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

²⁷And Abraham replied, “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.”

²⁹He 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.”

³³As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^athe Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19

The Doom of Sodom

¹Now the ^atwo angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When ^bLot saw them, he rose to meet them and ¹bowed down with his face to the ground.

²And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.”

³Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; ^aand he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴Before they lay down, ^athe men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people ¹from every quarter;

⁵and they called to Lot and said to him, “^aWhere are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may ¹have relations with them.”

⁶But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him,

⁷and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.

⁸“Now behold, ^aI have two daughters who have not ¹had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them ²whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the ³shelter of my roof.”

⁹But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in ¹as an alien, and already ^ahe is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against ²Lot and came near to break the door.

¹⁰But ^athe men reached out their ¹hands and brought Lot into the house ²with them, and shut the door.

^11aThey ¹struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

¹²Then the two men said to Lot, “Whom else have you here? A…