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Genesis 17

1Abram was ninety-nine years old when Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk before me and be blameless. 2I will set my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.” 3Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, 4“As for me, look, my covenant is with you. You will become the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer will your name be called Abram. Your name will be Abraham, because I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8I will give you and your offspring after you the land where you reside as a foreigner, the whole land of Canaan, as an everlasting holding. I will be their God.”

9God said to Abraham, “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10This is my covenant that you are to keep between me and you and your offspring after you: every male among you is to be circumcised. 11You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it will be a covenant sign between me and you. 12Throughout your generations every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old, whether born in the house or purchased with silver from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13Both the one born in your house and the one purchased with your silver must certainly be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14An uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—that person will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; Sarah is her name. 16I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her. I will bless her, and she will become nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” 17Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah, a woman ninety years old, give birth?” 18Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live before you!” 19God said, “Indeed, Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Look, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He will father twelve chieftains, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time next year.” 22When he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.

23Abraham took Ishmael his son and everyone born in his house and everyone purchased with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had spoken to him. 24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 25Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26On that very day Abraham and Ishmael his son were circumcised. 27All the men of his household, those born in the house and those purchased with silver from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Translation notes 3

17:1–8 — El Shaddai; names. El Shaddai is a divine designation traditionally rendered “God Almighty”; the precise origin and lexical force of Shaddai remain uncertain, so the designation is retained. Abram and Abraham are linked here with fatherhood, especially the sound of “father of a multitude.” Both Sarai and Sarah are related to the word for princess; the text does not explain every difference in their forms.

17:9–14, 23–27 — Circumcision; ownership. The physical flesh and male requirement are explicit. Household-born and silver-purchased persons include enslaved males under Abraham's authority; the scene does not describe a voluntary personal decision by each. Being cut off is a serious covenant penalty, but the mechanism is not specified here.

17:17–21 — Laughter; Isaac. Abraham laughs before Sarah's laughter in chapter 18. Isaac is linked with the verb “laugh.” “Indeed” can also carry a corrective “No, but” in God's answer. Ishmael receives blessing, fruitfulness, and twelve chieftains, while the covenant line is expressly assigned to Isaac; neither promise is erased.