Genesis 17

Covenant Promises to Abraham Genesis 17:4–6

⁴Verse 4. “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵Verse 5. Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶Verse 6. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

Everlasting Covenant and Land Genesis 17:7–8

⁷Verse 7. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸Verse 8. I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”

Covenant of Circumcision Genesis 17:9–14

⁹Verse 9. God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰Verse 10. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹Verse 11. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. ¹²Verse 12. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.

¹³Verse 13. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Verse 14. The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

Name Changes and Promise of Isaac Genesis 17:15–19

¹⁵Verse 15. God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶Verse 16. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷Verse 17. Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?” ¹⁸Verse 18. Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹Verse 19. God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

Blessings for Ishmael and Isaac Genesis 17:20–21

²⁰Verse 20. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹Verse 21. But my covenant I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”

Abraham's Obedience Genesis 17:22–27

²²Verse 22. When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. ²³Verse 23. 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 foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him. ²⁴Verse 24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵Verse 25. Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶Verse 26. In the same day both Abraham and Ishmael, his son, were circumcised.

²⁷Verse 27. All the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.