Genesis 17:9-27

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ¹  the covenantal requirement ²  I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: ³  Every male among you must be circumcised. ⁴  17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ⁵  of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ⁶  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 17:13 They must indeed be circumcised, ⁷  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ⁸  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ⁹  reminder. 17:14 Any uncircumcised male ¹⁰  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ¹¹  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ¹² 

17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; ¹³  Sarah ¹⁴  will be her name. 17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. ¹⁵  Kings of countries ¹⁶  will come from her!”

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ¹⁷  as he said to himself, ¹⁸  “Can ¹⁹  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ²⁰  Can Sarah ²¹  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ²²  17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ²³  Ishmael might live before you!” ²⁴ 

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ²⁵  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ²⁶  covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ²⁷  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ²⁸  He will become the father of twelve princes; ²⁹  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. ³⁰ 

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ³¹  and circumcised them ³²  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old ³³  when he was circumcised; ³⁴  17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old ³⁵  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.

[17:9]  ¹ tn The imperfect tense could be translated “you shall keep” as a binding command; but the obligatory nuance (“must”) captures the binding sense better.

[17:9]  ² tn Heb “my covenant.” The Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) can refer to (1) the agreement itself between two parties (see v. 7), (2) the promise made by one party to another (see vv. 2-3, 7), (3) an obligation placed by one party on another, or (4) a reminder of the agreement. In vv. 9-10 the word refers to a covenantal obligation which God gives to Abraham and his descendants.

[17:10]  ³ tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”

[17:10]  ⁴ sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.

[17:11]  ⁵ tn Or “sign.”

[17:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

[17:13]  ⁷ tn The emphatic construction employs the Niphal imperfect tense (collective singular) and the Niphal infinitive.

[17:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “my covenant.” Here in v. 13 the Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) refers to the outward, visible sign, or reminder, of the covenant. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[17:13]  ⁹ tn Or “an eternal.”

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

[17:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:14]  ¹² tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[17:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”

[17:15]  ¹⁴ sn Sarah. The name change seems to be a dialectical variation, both spellings meaning “princess” or “queen.” Like the name Abram, the name Sarai symbolized the past. The new name Sarah, like the name Abraham, would be a reminder of what God intended to do for Sarah in the future.

[17:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “she will become nations.”

[17:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “peoples.”

[17:17]  ¹⁷ sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.

[17:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

[17:17]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

[17:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

[17:17]  ²¹ sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).

[17:17]  ²² tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

[17:18]  ²³ tn The wish is introduced with the Hebrew particle לוּ (lu), “O that.”

[17:18]  ²⁴ tn Or “live with your blessing.”

[17:19]  ²⁵ 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).

[17:19]  ²⁶ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:20]  ²⁷ 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.

[17:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:20]  ²⁹ 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.

[17:22]  ³⁰ 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.

[17:23]  ³¹ 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.”

[17:23]  ³² tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:24]  ³³ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

[17:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin” (also in v. 25).

[17:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the son of thirteen years.”