God’s Covenant with Abram^(A)

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram ^(B)in a vision, saying, ^(C)“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your ^(D)shield, ^[a]your exceedingly ^(E)great reward.”

^2 (F)But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, ^(G)seeing I ^[b]go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed ^(H)one^[c] born in my house is my heir!”

⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who ^(I)will come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵ Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and ^(J)count the ^(K)stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, ^(L)“So shall your ^(M)descendants be.”

⁶ And he ^(N)believed in the Lord, and He ^(O)accounted it to him for righteousness.

⁷ Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who ^(P)brought you out of ^(Q)Ur of the Chaldeans, ^(R)to give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸ And he said, “Lord God, ^(S)how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and ^(T)cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut ^(U)the birds in two. ¹¹ And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, ^(V)a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly ^(W)that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and ^(X)they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve ^(Y)I will judge; afterward ^(Z)they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, ^(AA)you shall ^[d]go ^(AB)to your fathers in peace; ^(AC)you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But ^(AD)in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity ^(AE)of the Amorites ^(AF)is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that ^(AG)passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord ^(AH)made a covenant with Abram, saying:

^(AI)“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— ¹⁹ the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Hagar and Ishmael

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, ^(AJ)had borne him no children. And she had ^(AK)an Egyptian maidservant whose name was ^(AL)Hagar. ^2 (AM)So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord ^(AN)has restrained me from bearing children. Please, ^(AO)go in to my maid; perhaps I shall ^[e]obtain children by her.” And Abram ^(AP)heeded the voice of Sarai. ³ Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram ^(AQ)had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. ⁴ So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became ^(AR)despised in her ^[f]eyes.

⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, ^[g]“My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. ^(AS)The Lord judge between you and me.”

^6 (AT)So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, ^(AU)she fled from her presence.

⁷ Now the ^(AV)Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, ^(AW)by the spring on the way to ^(AX)Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”

⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and ^(AY)submit yourself under her hand.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, ^(AZ)“I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” ¹¹ And the Angel of the Lord said to her:

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-^[i]the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here ^[j]seen Him ^(BD)who sees me?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called ^(BE)Beer Lahai Roi;^[k] observe, it is ^(BF)between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So ^(BG)Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The Sign of the Covenant^(BH)

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord ^(BI)appeared to Abram and said to him, ^(BJ)“I am ^[l]Almighty God; ^(BK)walk before Me and be ^(BL)blameless. ² And I will make My ^(BM)covenant between Me and you, and ^(BN)will multiply you exceedingly.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: ⁴ “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(BO)a father of ^[m]many nations. ⁵ No longer shall ^(BP)your name be called ^[n]Abram, but your name shall be ^[o]Abraham; ^(BQ)for I have made you a father of ^[p]many nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make ^(BR)nations of you, and ^(BS)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(BT)establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, ^(BU)to be God to you and ^(BV)your descendants after you. ⁸ Also ^(BW)I give to you and your descendants after you the land ^(BX)in^[q] which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(BY)I will be their God.”

⁹ And God said to Abraham: “As for you, ^(BZ)you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰ This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: ^(CA)Every male child among you shall be circumcised; ¹¹ and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be ^(CB)a sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² He who is eight days old among you ^(CC)shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. ¹³ He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person ^(CD)shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but ^[r]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ And I will bless her ^(CE)and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother ^(CF)of nations; ^(CG)kings of peoples shall be from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face ^(CH)and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸ And Abraham ^(CI)said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”

¹⁹ Then God said: “No, ^(CJ)Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My ^(CK)covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and ^(CL)will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget ^(CM)twelve princes, ^(CN)and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My ^(CO)covenant I will establish with Isaac, ^(CP)whom Sarah shall bear to you at this ^(CQ)set time next year.” ²² Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

²³ So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. ²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵ And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; ²⁷ and ^(CR)all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.