Genesis 17–18

The Sign of the Covenant

17When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord ^aappeared to Abram and said to him, ^b“I am ¹Almighty God; ^cwalk before Me and be ^dblameless. ²And I will make My ^ecovenant between Me and you, and ^fwill multiply you exceedingly.” ³Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be ^ga father of ²many nations. ⁵No longer shall ^hyour name be called ³Abram, but your name shall be ⁴Abraham; ⁱfor I have made you a father of ⁵many nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make ^jnations of you, and ^kkings shall come from you. ⁷And I will ^lestablish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^mto be God to you and ⁿyour descendants after you. ⁸Also ^oI give to you and your descendants after you the land ^pin ⁶which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^qI will be their God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham: “As for you, ^ryou shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: ^sEvery male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be ^ta sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹²He who is eight days old among you ^ushall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person ^vshall be cut 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 ⁷Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶And I will bless her ^wand also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother ^xof nations; ^ykings of peoples shall be from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face ^zand laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham ^asaid to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹Then God said: “No, ^bSarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My ^ccovenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and ^dwill multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget ^etwelve princes, ^fand I will make him a great nation. ²¹But My ^gcovenant I will establish with Isaac, ^hwhom Sarah shall bear to you at this ⁱset time next year.” ²²Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

²³So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; ²⁷and ^jall the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

The Son of Promise

18Then the Lord appeared to him by ¹the ^aterebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. ^2bSo he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; ^cand when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, ³and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. ⁴Please let ^da little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵And ^eI will bring a morsel of bread, that ^fyou may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, ^ginasmuch as you have come to your servant.”

They said, “Do as you have said.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” ⁷And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. ⁸So ^hhe took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.

⁹Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”

So he said, “Here, ⁱin the tent.”

¹⁰And He said, “I will certainly return to you ^jaccording to the time of life, and behold, ^kSarah your wife shall have a son.”

(Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) ¹¹Now ^lAbraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and ²Sarah ^mhad passed the age of childbearing. ¹²Therefore Sarah ⁿlaughed within herself, saying, ^o“After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my ^plord being old also?”

¹³And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ ^14qIs anything too hard for the Lord? ^rAt the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.

And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

¹⁶Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them ^sto send them on the way. ¹⁷And the Lord said, ^t“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, ¹⁸since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^ublessed in him? ¹⁹For I have known him, in order ^vthat he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” ²⁰And the Lord said, “Because ^wthe outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their ^xsin is very grave, ^21yI will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, ^zI will know.”

²²Then the men turned away from there ^aand went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. ²³And Abraham ^bcame near and said, ^c“Would You also ^ddestroy the ^erighteous with the wicked? ²⁴Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? ²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so ^fthat the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! ^gShall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶So the Lord said, ^h“If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am ⁱbut dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: ²⁸Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”

So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”

³⁰Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”

So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

³²Then he said, ^j“Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”

^kAnd He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” ³³So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.