Text -- Genesis 17:19-27 (NET)

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation. 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” 17:22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. 17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) and circumcised them on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised; 17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. 17:26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day. 17:27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 17:19

¹ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

² tn Or “as an eternal.”

NET Notes: Gen 17:20

¹ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

² tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

³ tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

NET Notes: Gen 17:22

¹ tn Heb “And when he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.” The sequence of pronouns and proper names has been modified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

sn God went up from him. The text draws attention to God’s dramatic exit and in so doing brings full closure to the scene.

NET Notes: Gen 17:23

¹ tn Heb “Ishmael his son and all born in his house and all bought with money, every male among the men of the house of Abraham.”

² tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.

NET Notes: Gen 17:24

¹ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

² tn Heb “circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin” (also in v. 25).

NET Notes: Gen 17:25

¹ tn Heb “the son of thirteen years.”