Chapter 17
The Covenant and Its Sign.[a] 1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty.[b] Walk before me and be blameless. 2 I will establish my covenant between me and you and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Abram immediately fell down upon his face. God said to him, 4 “On my part, behold, my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. 5 You will no longer be called Abram, but Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.[c] 6 I will make you very, very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and you shall give birth to kings. 7 I will establish my covenant with you for all generations. It will be an eternal covenant. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give you and your descendants after you this land where you are now an alien. All of the land of Canaan shall be your eternal possession. I will be your God.”
9 God said to Abraham, “On your part, you must observe my covenant, you and your descendants after you, for all time. 10 This is my covenant that you must observe, a covenant between me and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of the male member. This shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Whenever baby boys are eight days old, they will be circumcised, whether they are your own children or the children of those whom you bought and who are foreigners and not of your bloodline. 13 You must circumcise those who are born in your house and those who are bought by you. Thus, my covenant will be marked in your flesh as an eternal covenant. 14 The male who is not circumcised, the one whose flesh of his member is not circumcised, is to be cut off from his people. He will have violated my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, she will no longer be called Sarai, but rather Sarah. 16 I will bless her and I will give you and her a son. I will bless her so that she shall become the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall descend from her.”
17 Abraham bowed down to the earth and laughed[d] when he thought, “Shall a man who is one hundred years old have a son? And Sarah, who is ninety years old, can she give birth?” 18 Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live in your presence!”
19 But God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant, that I will be his God and the God of his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and very, very numerous. Twelve princes shall come from him and I will make him a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. Sarah shall give birth to him by this time next year.” 22 God thus finished speaking to Abraham, and rising into the heavens, he left him.
23 Abraham therefore took Ishmael his son and all those born into his house and all those whom he had bought—all the males belonging to the household of Abraham—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as the Lord had commanded him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised. 25 Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised that same day. 27 And all the men of his household, those born in his house and those foreigners bought with money, were circumcised with him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 17:1 Chapter 17 is simply the Priestly version of the story that has been already told in chapter 15 (the covenant) and will be told in the first half of chapter 18 (the promise of Isaac). Along with the Priestly version of the promises the present chapter gives a more developed idea of the covenant. As will become clear from subsequent biblical revelation, God’s promises to human beings contain an unqualified and unmerited part and a conditional part; the absolute aspect is seen in the covenant with Abraham, the conditional part in the covenant at Sinai, which will involve bilateral commitments (Ex 19–24).
The point that is special to this chapter is the theme of circumcision as a constitutive sign of entrance into the covenant. This practice was widespread among various eastern peoples as an initiation into adulthood or marriage and was regarded as a sacrificial act. Since the reason for the existence of the people of Israel and therefore of their religion was to prepare for the future descendants who are the recipients of the promises (see 18:19), it is understandable that the people’s consecration to God should be celebrated with a sign that is connected with generation; thus it was appropriate for them to make this custom their own. But it is a sign that entails a mission. When Israel becomes content to practice the rite while forgetting its meaning, the Prophets will remind it of the demand for fidelity: the rite is valueless without the disposition of the heart (Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:7). Paul goes further and teaches that this external religious mark is now obsolete, for we are saved henceforth by Jesus Christ; in him we receive the baptism that brings us into the new covenant; circumcision was only a prefiguration of baptism (Gal 5:6; Phil 3:3; Col 2:11-12). - Genesis 17:1 God Almighty: in Hebrew, El-Shaddai, an ancient divine name from the period of the patriarchs (see Ex 6:3), retained chiefly in the Priestly tradition. The literal meaning is probably “The God of the Mountain,” referring to the widespread idea that the dwelling of the divinity was on the high mountains. In the Septuagint El-Shaddai is usually translated by the Greek word, pantokrator, “ruler of all,” while the Latin translations preferred omnipotens, “almighty,” which seems less valid.
- Genesis 17:5 In the Semitic vision of things, when one person changes the name of another, the former is asserting power over the latter and guiding his destiny. Here “Abraham” is explained by assonance with ab hamôn, “father of a multitude,” or ab rab hamôn, “father of a great multitude.”
- Genesis 17:17 Abraham . . . laughed: here, in the Priestly tradition, Abraham prostrates himself in adoration and laughs, not out of disbelief (since he is performing an act of worship) but out of amazement at such a paradoxical announcement: the whole idea is too much for him to dare hope for it, and he declares himself satisfied if Ishmael, his son, can inherit the divine promises.