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.”

Read in Logos

Genesis 17:7: And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

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.”