Genesis 17

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am your God. Be well-pleasing before me, and be blameless, 2 and I will set my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.” 3 And Abram fell on his face, and God spoke to him: 4 “As for me — look, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be called Abram. Your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations. 6 I will increase you beyond all measure. I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you through their generations, as an everlasting covenant: to be your God, and the God of your seed after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you now live as a stranger — all the land of Canaan — as an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.”

9 And God said to Abraham, “And you — you must fully keep my covenant, you and your seed after you through their generations. 10 This is the covenant you must fully keep between me and you and your seed after you through their generations: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be the sign of a covenant between me and you. † 12 The child eight days old shall be circumcised among you — every male through your generations — the servant born in your house, and the one bought with money from any foreigner’s son, who is not of your seed. 13 The one born in your house and the one bought with money must surely be circumcised. So my covenant will be on your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day — that soul will be utterly destroyed out of its family, for he has broken my covenant.” [a]

15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife — her name will not be called Sarai. Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her and give you a child by her. And I will bless him, and he will become nations, and kings of nations will come from him.” 17 And Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Let this Ishmael live before you!” 19 And God said to Abraham, “Yes — look, Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 As for Ishmael — look, I have heard you. I have blessed him, and I will increase him and multiply him greatly. He will father twelve nations, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season, in the coming year.” 22 And when he had finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.

23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all the servants born in his house, and all those bought with money — every male among the men of Abraham’s house — and he circumcised them in the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 On that same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael, 27 and all the men of his house — those born in the house, and those bought with money from foreign nations.