1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Live your life in my presence and be blameless.
2I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants.”
3Abram fell to the ground. God spoke with him, saying,
4“Look, my promise is with you: you will be the father of many nations.
5Your name will no longer be Abram; instead, your name will be Abraham, because I have made you the father of many nations.
6I will make you very, very fruitful. I will make nations come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.
7I will establish my promise between me and you and your future descendants throughout their generations. This will be an everlasting promise: I will be your God and the God of your descendants.
8I will give you and your descendants after you the land where you are now a foreigner—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
9God said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your descendants throughout their generations must keep my promise.
10This is my promise that you must keep, between me and you and your descendants: every male among you must be circumcised.
11You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin. This will be a sign of the promise between me and you.
12Every male among you, throughout all generations, must be circumcised when he is eight days old, whether he is born in your household or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.
13Those born in your household and those bought with your money must be circumcised. My promise will be a permanent mark on your bodies.
14Any uncircumcised male who does not cut off the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my promise.”
15God also said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you must not call her Sarai; instead, her name will be Sarah.
16I will bless her, and I will also give you a son through her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of people will come from her.”
17Then Abraham fell to the ground, laughed, and thought to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, have a baby?”
18Abraham said to God, “I wish that Ishmael could live under your blessing!”
19God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will give birth to a son for you. You must name him Isaac. I will establish my everlasting promise with him and his descendants.
20I have heard you about Ishmael. Look, I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and multiply his descendants greatly. He will be the father of twelve leaders, and I will make him a great nation.
21But I will establish my promise with Isaac, whom Sarah will give birth to at this time next year.”
22When he finished speaking with him, God left Abraham.
23Abraham took his son Ishmael, everyone born in his house, and everyone he had bought with his money—every male among the men of Abraham’s household. He circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, just as God had told him.
24Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.
25His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.
26Both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day.
27All the men of his household, both those born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.