The Covenant of circumcision.

¹ In truth, after he began to be ninety-nine years of age, the Lord appeared to him. And he said to him: “I am the Almighty God. Walk in my sight and become complete.

² And I will set my covenant between me and you. And I will multiply you very exceedingly.”¹

1. 17:2The use of ‘vehementer’ with ‘nimis’ indicates an extreme degree, for each of those words alone means ‘very much’ or ‘exceedingly.’ When used together it is hard to express the meaning.(Conte)

³ Abram fell prone on his face.

⁴ And God said to him: “I AM, and my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of many nations.

⁵ No longer will your name be called Abram. But you will be called Abraham, for I have established you as the father of many nations.¹

1. 17:5Abram: in the Hebrew, signifies a high father: but Abraham, the father of the multitude; Sarai signifies my Lady, but Sara absolutely Lady.(Challoner)

⁶ And I will cause you to increase very greatly, and I will set you among the nations, and kings will come forth from you.

⁷ And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and with your offspring after you in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

⁸ And I will give to you and to your offspring, the land of your sojourn, all the land of Canaan, as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.”

⁹ Again God said to Abraham: “And you therefore shall keep my covenant, and your offspring after you in their generations.

¹⁰ This is my covenant, which you shall observe, between me and you, and your offspring after you: All the males among you shall be circumcised.

¹¹ And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, so that it may be a sign of the covenant between me and you.¹

1. 17:11Circumcision is chosen as the sign of the covenant because God intends men and women to have fundamentally different roles in the family, in religion, and in society.(Conte)

¹² An infant of eight days will be circumcised among you, every male in your generations. So also servants born to you, as well as those bought, shall be circumcised, even those who are not of your stock.

¹³ And my covenant shall be with your flesh as an eternal covenant.

¹⁴ The male, the flesh of whose foreskin will not be circumcised, that soul shall be eliminated from his people. For he has made my covenant void.”

¹⁵ God said also to Abraham: “Your wife Sarai, you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah.

¹⁶ And I will bless her, and from her I will give you a son, whom I will bless, and he will be among the nations, and the kings of the peoples will rise from him.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell on his face, and he laughed, saying in his heart: “Do you think a son can be born to a one hundred year old man? And will Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”

¹⁸ And he said to God, “If only Ishmael would live in your sight.”

¹⁹ And God said to Abraham: “Your wife Sarah shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant, and with his offspring after him.¹

1. 17:19Here is an example where two different words in Latin, ‘pactum’ and ‘fœdus,’ are translated by the same word in English.(Conte)

²⁰ Likewise, concerning Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless and enlarge him, and I will multiply him greatly. He will produce twelve leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.

²¹ Yet in truth, I will establish my covenant with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth for you at this time next year.”

²² And when he had finished speaking with him, God ascended from Abraham.

²³ Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all who were born in his house, and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin promptly, the very same day, just as God had instructed him.

²⁴ Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.

²⁵ And his son Ishmael had completed thirteen years at the time of his circumcision.

²⁶ On the very same day, Abraham was circumcised with his son Ishmael.

²⁷ And all the men of his house, those born in his house, as well as those who were bought, even the foreigners, were circumcised with him.