Knox Bible

1

It was when he reached the age of ninety-nine that the Lord was revealed to him with the words, I am God Almighty; live as in my sight, and be perfect.

2

Then, on my part, I will make a covenant with thee, to give thy posterity increase beyond measure.

3

At this, Abram fell prostrate before him.

4

And God said to him; I AM,✻ and here is the covenant I make with thee, thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations.

5

No longer shall thy name be Abram, thou shalt be called Abraham, the father of a throng, such is the multitude of nations I will give thee for thy children.✻

6

I will make thee fruitful beyond all measure, so that thou shalt count among the nations; from thy issue, kings shall rise.

7

I will honour this covenant of mine with thyself and with the race that shall follow thee, generation after generation; an eternal covenant that pledges me to be thy God, and the God of the race which follows thee.

8

To thee, and to that race, I will give the land in which thou dwellest now as a stranger, the whole land of Chanaan; their inheritance for ever, and I their God.

9

Then God said to Abraham, Thou, too, shalt observe this covenant of mine, thou and the race that shall follow thee, generation after generation.

10

This is the covenant you shall keep with me, thou and thine; every male child of yours shall be circumcised;

11

you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, in token of the covenant between me and you.

12

Generation after generation, every male child shall be circumcised when it is eight days old. And this law shall be binding on your slaves, both those born in your households, and those you have bought, though these be of alien breed.

13

So my covenant shall have its seal in your flesh, ratified to all time.

14

If any male person has the flesh of his foreskin uncircumcised, there is no place for him among his people;✻ he has violated the covenant between us.

15

This, too, God said to Abraham, Thou shalt call thy wife Sarai not Sarai but Sara, the princess.

16

Her I will bless, giving thee a son by her; and him, too, I will bless, giving him whole nations for his posterity; kings with their peoples shall take their origin from him.

17

At this, Abraham fell prostrate before him; but in his heart he said, laughing at the thought, Shall I have a son when I am a hundred years old? Will Sara, with all her ninety years, become a mother?

18

And this was what he asked of God, If only thou wilt grant life to Ismael!

19

But God said to Abraham, Thou shalt have a son by thy wife Sara, and shalt give him the name of Isaac; it is to him and to the race which shall follow him that I will make good my promise, ratified for ever.

20

As for Ismael, for him too I grant thy prayer; be sure that I will bless him, and make him fruitful, and grant him increase beyond all measure, so that he will be the father of twelve chieftains. From him, too, a great nation shall arise;

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but when I make good this promise of mine, it will be for Isaac, the son thou wilt have, at this time next year, by thy wife Sara.

22

So God finished speaking to Abraham, and went up out of his sight.

23

And Abraham sent for his son Ismael, and for all the slaves born in his house and those, too, whom he had bought, every male child that belonged to any of his household, and on that very day he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins, in obedience to the Lord’s bidding.

24

Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin,

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and Ismael, at the time of his circumcision, had reached the age of thirteen.

26

On this same day all were circumcised, Abraham, and his son Ismael,

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and the men of his household, slaves born in the house and aliens that were his by purchase, all alike.