Genesis 15–17

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram^p in a vision:^q

“Do not be afraid,^r Abram.

I am your shield,^as

your very great reward.^bt”

²But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^u what can you give me since I remain childless^v and the one who will inherit^c my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?^w” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant^x in my household^y will be my heir.”

⁴Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.^z” ⁵He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^a—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^d be.”^b

⁶Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^c

⁷He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out^d of Ur of the Chaldeans^e to give you this land to take possession of it.”^f

⁸But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord,^g how can I know^h that I will gain possession of it?”ⁱ

⁹So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer,^j a goat and a ram, each three years old,^k along with a dove and a young pigeon.^l”

¹⁰Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other;^m the birds, however, he did not cut in half.^{n 11}Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses,^o but Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,^p and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years^q your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved^r and mistreated there. ¹⁴But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out^s with great possessions.^{t 15}You, however, will go to your ancestors^u in peace and be buried at a good old age.^{v 16}In the fourth generation^w your descendants will come back here,^x for the sin of the Amorites^y has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch^z appeared and passed between the pieces.^{a 18}On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram^b and said, “To your descendants I give this land,^c from the Wadi^e of Egypt^d to the great river, the Euphrates^e—¹⁹the land of the Kenites,^f Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰Hittites,^g Perizzites,^h Rephaites,^{i 21}Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”^j

Hagar and Ishmael

16Now Sarai,^k Abram’s wife, had borne him no children.^l But she had an Egyptian slave^m named Hagar;^{n 2}so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children.^o Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”^p

Abram agreed to what Sarai said. ³So after Abram had been living in Canaan^q ten years,^r Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. ⁴He slept with Hagar,^s and she conceived.

When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.^{t 5}Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”^u

⁶“Your slave is in your hands,^v” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated^w Hagar; so she fled from her.

⁷The angel of the Lord^x found Hagar near a spring^y in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.^{z 8}And he said, “Hagar,^a slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”^b

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

⁹Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”^c

¹¹The angel of the Lord^d also said to her:

“You are now pregnant

and you will give birth to a son.^e

You shall name him^f Ishmael,^ag

for the Lord has heard of your misery.^h

¹²He will be a wild donkeyⁱ of a man;

his hand will be against everyone

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he will live in hostility

toward^b all his brothers.^j”

¹³She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,^k” for she said, “I have now seen^c the One who sees me.”^{l 14}That is why the well^m was called Beer Lahai Roi^d;ⁿ it is still there, between Kadesh^o and Bered.

¹⁵So Hagar^p bore Abram a son,^q and Abram gave the name Ishmael^r to the son she had borne. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old^s when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

The Covenant of Circumcision

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old,^t the Lord appeared to him^u and said, “I am God Almighty^a;^v walk before me faithfully and be blameless.^{w 2}Then I will make my covenant between me and you^x and will greatly increase your numbers.”^y

³Abram fell facedown,^z and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you:^a You will be the father of many nations.^{b 5}No longer will you be called Abram^b; your name will be Abraham,^cc for I have made you a father of many nations.^{d 6}I will make you very fruitful;^e I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.^{f 7}I will establish my covenant^g as an everlasting covenant^h between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your Godⁱ and the God of your descendants after you.^{j 8}The whole land of Canaan,^k where you now reside as a foreigner,^l I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you;^m and I will be their God.ⁿ”

⁹Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant,^o you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.^{p 10}This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.^{q 11}You are to undergo circumcision,^r and it will be the sign of the covenant^s between me and you. ¹²For the generations to come^t every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised,^u including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. ¹³Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised.^v My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.^{w 14}Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised^x in the flesh, will be cut off from his people;^y he has broken my covenant.^z”

¹⁵God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai^a your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.^{b 16}I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her.^c I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations;^d kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷Abraham fell facedown;^e he laughed^f and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old?^g Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?”^{h 18}And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmaelⁱ might live under your blessing!”^j

¹⁹Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son,^k and you will call him Isaac.^dl I will establish my covenant with him^m as an everlasting covenantⁿ for his descendants after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers.^o He will be the father of twelve rulers,^p and I will make him into a great nation.^{q 21}But my covenant^r I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you^s by this time next year.”^{t 22}When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.^u

²³On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household^v or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.^{w 24}Abraham was ninety-nine years old^x when he was circumcised,^{y 25}and his son Ishmael^z was thirteen; ²⁶Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. ²⁷And every male in Abraham’s household^a, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.