Genesis 17

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old Yahweh appeared to him and said, 'I am El Shaddai. Live inmy presence, be perfect,

² and I shal grant a covenant between myself and you, and make you very numerous.'

³ And Abram bowed to the ground. God spoke to him as follows,

⁴ 'For my part, this is my covenant with you: you wil become the father of many nations.

⁵ And you are no longer to be cal ed Abram; your name is to be Abraham, for I am making you father ofmany nations.

⁶ I shal make you exceedingly fertile. I shall make you into nations, and your issue wil be kings.

⁷ And I shal maintain my covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you,generation after generation, as a covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants afteryou.

⁸ And to you and to your descendants after you, I shal give the country where you are now immigrants,the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity. And I shal be their God.'

⁹ God further said to Abraham, 'You for your part must keep my covenant, you and your descendantsafter you, generation after generation.

¹⁰ This is my covenant which you must keep between myself and you, and your descendants after you:every one of your males must be circumcised.

¹¹ You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that wil be the sign of the covenant betweenmyself and you.

¹² As soon as he is eight days old, every one of your males, generation after generation, must becircumcised, including slaves born within the household or bought from a foreigner not of your descent.

¹³ Whether born within the household or bought, they must be circumcised. My covenant must bemarked in your flesh as a covenant in perpetuity.

¹⁴ The uncircumcised male, whose foreskin has not been circumcised -- that person must be cut offfrom his people: he has broken my covenant.'

¹⁵ Furthermore God said to Abraham, 'As regards your wife Sarai, you must not cal her Sarai, butSarah.

¹⁶ I shal bless her and moreover give you a son by her. I shal bless her and she will become nations:kings of peoples wil issue from her.'

¹⁷ Abraham bowed to the ground, and he laughed, thinking to himself, 'Is a child to be born to a manone hundred years old, and wil Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?'

¹⁸ Abraham said to God, 'May Ishmael live in your presence! That wil be enough!'

¹⁹ But God replied, 'Yes, your wife Sarah will bear you a son whom you must name Isaac. And I shalmaintain my covenant with him, a covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants afterhim.

²⁰ For Ishmael too I grant you your request. I hereby bless him and wil make him fruitful andexceedingly numerous. He wil be the father of twelve princes, and I shal make him into a great nation.

²¹ But my covenant I shall maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah wil bear you at this time next year.'

²² When he had finished speaking to Abraham, God went up from him.

²³ Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, al the slaves born in his household or whom he had bought, inshort al the males among the people of Abraham's household, and circumcised their foreskins that same day,as God had said to him.

²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when his foreskin was circumcised.

²⁵ Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when his foreskin was circumcised.

²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day,

²⁷ and al the men of his household, those born in the household and those bought from foreigners,were circumcised with him.