1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless. 2 Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Abram bowed low with his face to the ground and God talked with him, saying, 4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham—for I appoint you to be the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land where you have been living, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” 9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you must keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Every male among you that is eight days old must be circumcised, throughout your people's generations. This includes him who is born into your household and him who is bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 13 He who is born into your household and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” 15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai any more. Instead, her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” 17 Then Abraham bowed low with his face to the ground, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? How can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?” 18 Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you must name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant with his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I hereby bless him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him abundantly. He will be the father of twelve leaders of tribes, and I will make him become a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time in the next year.” 22 When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all those who were born into his household, and all those who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in that same day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 On the very same day Abraham and Ishmael his son were both circumcised. 27 All the men of his household were circumcised with him, including those born into the household and those bought with money from a foreigner.
Genesis · Unlocked Literal Bible
Genesis 17 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Abraham
Called by God, he left home in faith to become the father of a chosen people.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 12–25
Ishmael
Abraham's son by Hagar, blessed by God to become a great nation.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 16; 17:20; 21; 25:12–18
Sarah
Wife of Abraham who bore Isaac in her old age, long after hope seemed gone.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 17-21
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 3:20; Luke 1:6; Genesis 18:14; Genesis 6:9
- 2 Genesis 17:4–6; Genesis 12:2; Genesis 15:18; Psalm 105:8–11; Genesis 13:16
- 3 Genesis 17:17; Judges 13:20; Matthew 17:6; Joshua 5:14; Numbers 16:45
- 4 Genesis 35:11; Romans 4:11–18; Galatians 3:28–29; Genesis 12:2; Genesis 22:17
- 5 Matthew 1:21–23; Nehemiah 9:7; Romans 4:17; Genesis 17:15; Genesis 32:28
- 6 Genesis 17:4; Matthew 1:6–17; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 17:16; Genesis 17:20
- 7 Romans 9:7–9; Genesis 26:24; Acts 2:39; Genesis 15:18; Hebrews 8:10
- 8 Leviticus 26:12; Psalm 105:11; Genesis 12:7; Exodus 6:7; Genesis 13:15
- 9 Psalm 25:10; Psalm 103:18; Isaiah 56:4–5
- 10 Acts 7:8; Colossians 2:11–12; Galatians 5:3–6; Romans 4:9–11; Joshua 5:2
- 11 Romans 4:11; Acts 7:8; Deuteronomy 10:16; Exodus 4:25; Joshua 5:3
- 12 Leviticus 12:3; Luke 2:21; Philippians 3:5; Exodus 12:48–49; Luke 1:59
- 13 Exodus 12:44; Nehemiah 5:8; Genesis 37:36; Exodus 21:16; Genesis 37:27
- 14 Exodus 4:24–26; Numbers 15:30–31; Exodus 12:19; Exodus 30:33; Isaiah 33:8
- 15 Genesis 32:28; Genesis 17:5; 2 Samuel 12:25
- 16 Genesis 35:11; 1 Peter 3:6; Isaiah 49:23; Galatians 4:26–31; Genesis 18:10–14
- 17 Genesis 18:12; Genesis 21:6; Romans 4:19–20; John 8:56; Revelation 11:16
- 18 Acts 2:39; Psalm 4:6; Psalm 41:12; Genesis 4:14; Jeremiah 32:39
- 19 Genesis 21:2–3; Luke 1:13–20; Genesis 18:10–14; Galatians 4:28–31; Genesis 21:6
- 20 Genesis 21:18; Genesis 21:13; Genesis 25:12–18; Genesis 16:10–12
- 21 Genesis 21:2–3; Genesis 26:2–5; Genesis 18:10; Romans 9:9; Galatians 3:29
- 22 Genesis 35:9–15; Genesis 18:33; John 10:30; Deuteronomy 5:4; Judges 13:20
- 23 Psalm 119:60; Proverbs 27:1; Genesis 17:10–14; Genesis 18:19; Genesis 17:26–27
- 24 Romans 4:11; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 17:17; Romans 4:19–20; Genesis 17:1
- 26 Psalm 119:60; Genesis 12:4; Genesis 22:3–4
- 27 Genesis 18:19
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For it declares: "God said unto Abraham, Every male among you shall be circumcised; and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, as a token of the covenant between Me and you." This same does Ezekiel the prophet say with regard to the Sabbaths: "Also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that …
… handmaid's son, "when Abram was ninety years old and nine, God appeared to him, and said unto him, I am God; be well-pleasing in my sight, and be without complaint, and I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will fill thee exceedingly." Here there are more distinct promises about the calling of the nations in Isaac, that …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Being faithful in these things, he was sealed for righteousness, and received circumcision as a seal of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, having received a promise that he should be the father of many nations.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
When it is said, "The male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people, because he hath broken my covenant," some may be troubled how that ought to be understood, since it can be no fault of the infant whose life it is said must perish; nor has the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
And I will give thee a son of Sarah; and I will bless him, and he shall become nations, and kings of nations shall be of him," --a promise which we now see fulfilled in Christ,--from that time forward this couple are not called in Scripture, as formerly, Abram and Sarai, but Abraham and Sarah, as we have called them …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)