A New Name: Abraham

¹When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be perfect." ²"I will establish my covenant between myself and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly." ³Abram dropped face-down to the ground, and God spoke to him: ⁴"On my part, my covenant is with you, and you will become the father of many nations." ⁵"Your name will no longer be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations." ⁶"I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations from you, and kings will descend from you." ⁷"I will establish my covenant between myself and you and your descendants throughout every generation as an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your descendants after you." ⁸"I will give to you and your descendants after you the land where you are now living as a foreigner — the entire land of Canaan — as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." ⁹Then God told Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant — you and your descendants throughout every generation." ¹⁰"Here is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you must be circumcised." ¹¹"You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and this will serve as the sign of the covenant between me and you." ¹²"Throughout your generations, every male who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your household or purchased with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant." ¹³"Both those born in your household and those purchased with your money must certainly be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant." ¹⁴"Any uncircumcised male whose foreskin has not been circumcised — that soul will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant." ¹⁵God also told Abraham, "Regarding Sarai your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai. From now on, her name will be Sarah." ¹⁶"I will bless her, and I will also give you a son through her. I will bless her so that she becomes a mother of nations; kings over peoples will come from her." ¹⁷Abraham dropped face-down to the ground and laughed, thinking to himself, "Can a man who is a hundred years old have a child? Can Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?" ¹⁸Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!" ¹⁹God said, "Sarah your wife will indeed bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him." ²⁰"Regarding Ishmael, I have heard your request. I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will increase his numbers greatly. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation." ²¹"However, my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this same time next year." ²²When God finished speaking with Abraham, he went up from him. ²³That very same day, Abraham took his son Ishmael, along with every male in his household — both those born there and those purchased with his money — and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin, just as God had told him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁵His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. ²⁶On that very same day, both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷Every male in his household — those born there and those purchased with money from foreigners — was circumcised along with him.