17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Obey me and do what is right. ²I will make an agreement between us, and I will make you the ancestor of many people.”

³Then Abram bowed facedown on the ground. God said to him, ⁴“I am making my agreement with you: I will make you the father of many nations. ⁵I am changing your name from Abram ⁿ to Abraham ⁿ because I am making you a father of many nations. ⁶I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. ⁷And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. ⁸You live in the land of Canaan now as a stranger, but I will give you and your descendants all this land forever. And I will be the God of your descendants.”

⁹Then God said to Abraham, “You and your descendants must keep this agreement from now on. ¹⁰This is my agreement with you and all your descendants, which you must obey: Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹Cut away your foreskin to show that you are prepared to follow the agreement between me and you. ¹²From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave, who is not one of your descendants. ¹³Circumcise every baby boy whether he is born in your family or bought as a slave. Your bodies will be marked to show that you are part of my agreement that lasts forever. ¹⁴Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my agreement.”

Isaac—the Promised Son

¹⁵God said to Abraham, “I will change the name of Sarai, ⁿ your wife, to Sarah. ⁿ ¹⁶I will bless her and give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham bowed facedown on the ground and laughed. He said to himself, “Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah give birth to a child when she is ninety?” ¹⁸Then Abraham said to God, “Please let Ishmael be the son you promised.”

¹⁹God said, “No, Sarah your wife will have a son, and you will name him Isaac. ⁿ I will make my agreement with him to be an agreement that continues forever with all his descendants.

²⁰“As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will bless him and give him many descendants. And I will cause their numbers to grow greatly. He will be the father of twelve great leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. ²¹But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son whom Sarah will have at this same time next year.” ²²After God finished talking with Abraham, God rose and left him.

²³Then Abraham gathered Ishmael, all the males born in his camp, and the slaves he had bought. So that day Abraham circumcised every man and boy in his camp as God had told him to do. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵And Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷Also on that day all the men in Abraham’s camp were circumcised, including all those born in his camp and all the slaves he had bought from other nations.

The Three Visitors

18Later, the Lord again appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre. Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day. ²He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When Abraham saw them, he ran from his tent to meet them. He bowed facedown on the ground before them ³and said, “Sir, if you think well of me, please stay awhile with me, your servant. ⁴I will bring some water so all of you can wash your feet. You may rest under the tree, ⁵and I will get some bread for you so you can regain your strength. Then you may continue your journey.”

The three men said, “That is fine. Do as you said.”

⁶Abraham hurried to the tent where Sarah was and said to her, “Hurry, prepare twenty quarts of fine flour, and make it into loaves of bread.” ⁷Then Abraham ran to his herd and took one of his best calves. He gave it to a servant, who hurried to kill it and to prepare it for food. ⁸Abraham gave the three men the calf that had been cooked and milk curds and milk. While they ate, he stood under the tree near them.

⁹The men asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

“There, in the tent,” said Abraham.

¹⁰Then the Lord said, “I will certainly return to you about this time a year from now. At that time your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent which was behind him. ¹¹Abraham and Sarah were very old. Since Sarah was past the age when women normally have children, ¹²she laughed to herself, “My husband and I are too old to have a baby.”

¹³Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘I am too old to have a baby’? ¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? No! I will return to you at the right time a year from now, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I didn’t laugh.”

But the Lord said, “No. You did laugh.”

¹⁶Then the men got up to leave and started out toward Sodom. Abraham walked along with them a short time to send them on their way.

Abraham’s Bargain with God

¹⁷The Lord said, “Should I tell Abraham what I am going to do now? ¹⁸Abraham’s children will certainly become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. ¹⁹I have chosen him so he would command his children and his descendants to live the way the Lord wants them to, to live right and be fair. Then I, the Lord, will give Abraham what I promised him.”

²⁰Then the Lord said, “I have heard many complaints against the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They are very evil. ²¹I will go down and see if they are as bad as I have heard. If not, I will know.”

²²So the men turned and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood there before the Lord. ²³Then Abraham approached him and asked, “Do you plan to destroy the good people along with the evil ones? ²⁴What if there are fifty good people in that city? Will you still destroy it? Surely you will save the city for the fifty good people living there. ²⁵Surely you will not destroy the good people along with the evil ones; then they would be treated the same. You are the judge of all the earth. Won’t you do what is right?”

²⁶The Lord said, “If I find fifty good people in the city of Sodom, I will save the whole city because of them.”

²⁷Then Abraham said, “Though I am only dust and ashes, I have been brave to speak to the Lord. ²⁸What if there are only forty-five good people in the city? Will you destroy the whole city for the lack of five good people?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy the city.”

²⁹Again Abraham said to him, “If you find only forty good people there, will you destroy the city?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty, I will not destroy it.”

³⁰Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me ask you this. If you find only thirty good people in the city, will you destroy it?”

He said, “If I find thirty good people there, I will not destroy the city.”

³¹Then Abraham said, “I have been brave to speak to the Lord. But what if there are twenty good people in the city?”

He answered, “If I find twenty there, I will not destroy the city.”

³²Then Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me, but let me bother you this one last time. What if you find ten there?”

He said, “If I find ten there, I will not destroy it.”

³³When the Lord finished speaking to Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

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Footnotes

nAbram This name means “honored father.”
nAbraham The end of the Hebrew word for “Abraham” sounds like the beginning of the Hebrew word for “many.”
nSarai An Aramaic name meaning “princess.”
nSarah A Hebrew name meaning “princess.”
nIsaac The Hebrew words for “he laughed” (v. 17) and “Isaac” sound the same.