²But Abram said, “Lord and King, what can you give me? I still don’t have any children. My servant Eliezer comes from Damascus. When I die, he will get everything I own.” ³Abram continued, “You haven’t given me any children. So a servant in my house will get everything I own.”

⁴Then a message came to Abram from the Lord. He said, “This man will not get what belongs to you. A son will come from your own body. He will get everything you own.”

⁵The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky. Count the stars, if you can.” Then he said to him, “That is how many children you will have.”

⁶Abram believed the Lord. The Lord accepted Abram because he believed. So his faith made him right with the Lord.

⁷He also said to Abram, “I am the Lord. I brought you out of Ur in Babylonia. I wanted to give you this land to take as your very own.”

⁸But Abram said, “Lord and King, how can I know I will take this land as my own?”

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a young cow. Also bring a goat and a ram. All of them must be three years old. Bring a dove and a young pigeon along with them.”

¹⁰Abram brought all of them to the Lord. Abram cut them in two. He placed the halves opposite each other. But he didn’t cut the birds in half. ¹¹Then large birds came down to eat the dead bodies of the animals and birds. But Abram chased the large birds away.

¹²As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep. A thick and terrible darkness covered him.

¹³Then the Lord said to him, “You can be sure of what I am about to tell you. Your children who live after you will be strangers in a country that does not belong to them. They will become slaves. They will be treated badly for 400 years. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation that makes them slaves. After that, they will leave with all kinds of valuable things.

¹⁵“But you will die in peace. You will join the members of your family who have already died. You will be buried when you are very old.

¹⁶“Your children’s grandchildren will come back here. That is because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached the point where I must judge them.”

¹⁷The sun set and darkness fell. Then a burning torch and a fire pot filled with smoke appeared. They passed between the pieces of the animals.

¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram. He said, “I am giving this land to your children after you. It reaches from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. ¹⁹It includes the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaites. ²¹The Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites also live there.”

Hagar and Ishmael

16Abram’s wife Sarai had never had any children by him. But she had a female servant from Egypt named Hagar. ²So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go and make love to my servant. Maybe I can have a family through her.”

Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. ³After he had been living in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai gave him her servant Hagar to be his wife. ⁴He made love to Hagar. And she became pregnant.

When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on the woman who owned her.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s your fault that I’m suffering like this. I put my servant in your arms. Now that she knows she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May the Lord judge between you and me. May he decide which of us is right.”

⁶“Your servant belongs to you,” Abram said. “Do with her what you think is best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar badly. So Hagar ran away from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert. The spring was beside the road to Shur. ⁸He said, “Hagar, you are the servant of Sarai. Where have you come from? Where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my owner Sarai,” she answered.

⁹Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to the woman who owns you. Obey her.” ¹⁰The angel continued, “I will greatly increase the number of your children after you. You will have more of them than anyone can count.”

¹¹The angel of the Lord also said to her,

“You are now pregnant.

You will have a son.

You will name him Ishmael.

That is because the Lord has heard about your suffering.

¹²He will be like a wild donkey.

He will use his power against everyone.

And everyone will be against him.

He will not be friendly

toward any of his relatives.”

¹³She gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She called him “You are the God who sees me.” That’s because she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

¹⁴That’s why the well was named Beer Lahai Roi. It’s still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar had a son by Abram. And Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had by him. ¹⁶Abram was 86 years old when Hagar had Ishmael by him.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am the Mighty God. Walk with me and live without any blame. ²I will now put into practice my covenant between me and you. I will greatly increase your numbers.”

³Abram fell with his face to the ground. God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations.

⁵“You will not be called Abram anymore. Your name will be Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶I will give you many children. Nations will come from you. And kings will come from you.

⁷“I will make my covenant with you. It will last forever. It will be between me and you and your children after you for all time to come. I will be your God. And I will be the God of all of your family after you.

⁸“You are now living in Canaan as an outsider. But I will give you the whole land of Canaan. You will own it forever. So will your children after you. And I will be their God.”

⁹Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant. You and your children after you for all time to come must keep it.

¹⁰“Here is my covenant that you and your children after you must keep. Every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹You must be circumcised. That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²It must be done for all time to come.

“Every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. That includes those who are born in your house. It also includes those who are bought with money from a stranger. Even those who are not your own children must be included. ¹³Any male who is born in your house or bought with your money must be circumcised.

“My covenant will last forever. Your body will have the mark of my covenant on it.

¹⁴“Any male who has not been circumcised will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai anymore. Her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶I will give her my blessing. You can be sure that I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell with his face to the ground. He laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man who is 100 years old? Will Sarah have a child at the age of 90?”

¹⁸Abraham said to God, “I wish Ishmael could receive your blessing!”

¹⁹Then God said, “I will bless Ishmael. But your wife Sarah will have a son by you. And you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him. It will be a covenant that lasts forever. It will be for Isaac and for his family after him.

²⁰“As for Ishmael, I have heard you. You can be sure that I will bless him. I will give him children. I will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of 12 rulers. And I will make him into a great nation.

²¹“But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son by you.”

²²When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God left him.

²³On that very day Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael. He also circumcised every male who was born in his house or bought with his money. He did exactly as God had told him. ²⁴Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵His son Ishmael was 13.

²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. ²⁷And every male in Abraham’s house was circumcised along with him. That included those who were born in his house or bought from a stranger.

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