When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram
and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be
blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may
multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to
him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father
of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called
Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the
father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly
fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come
from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and
your offspring after you throughout their generations for an
everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after
you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the
land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an
everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant,
you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This
is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your
offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You
shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall
be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days
old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your
generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money
from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is
born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall
surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an
everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised
in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he
has broken my covenant.”
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not
call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her,
and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and
she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself,
“Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall
Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to
God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but
Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name
Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting
covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard
you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and
multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will
make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with
Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house
or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's
house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very
day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when
he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his
son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of
his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were
circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house
and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with
him.
