1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Initiator} appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty {El Shaddai, All-Sufficient Protector}; live before Me, and be blameless.”
2 I {YHWH, Faithful Covenant-Maker} will set My covenant {berit: binding agreement} between Me and you, and I will increase you greatly.
3 Abram fell face down, and God {Elohim, Covenant Initiator} spoke with him {itto: personal encounter}, saying,
4 As for Me {Elohim, Covenant Initiator}, look: My covenant {berit: binding agreement} is with you, and you will become the father of a multitude of nations.
5 Your name will no longer be Abram{avram: Exalted Father}; instead, your name will be Abraham, because I{Elohim, Covenant Renamer} have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
6 I {Elohim, Covenant Speaker} will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will bring nations {goyim: distinct peoples} from you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will confirm My covenant {berit: binding relationship} between Me and you and between your seed after you in every generation, as an everlasting covenant, so that I will be God {Elohim, Covenant Lord} to you and to your seed after you.
8 I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land where you live as a foreigner, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession {achuzat: permanent family holding}, and I will be God {Elohim, Faithful Possessor} to them.
9 God {Elohim, Covenant Giver} said to Abraham, “As for you, you are to keep My covenant {berit: binding agreement}, you and your descendants after you, through their generations.”
10 This is My {Elohim, Covenant Initiator} covenant that you are to keep between Me and you and your descendants {zera: continuing family line} after you: every male among you must be circumcised.
11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall serve as a distinguishing mark {ot: bodily covenant sign} of the covenant between Me {Elohim, Covenant Establishing God} and you.
12 Every male among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old, throughout your generations—whether he is born in the household or bought with money {keseph: purchase money} from a foreigner who is not of your descendants {zera: covenant line}.
13 The one born in your house and the one purchased with your silver {kesef: payment medium} must surely be circumcised, and My {Elohim, Covenant Giver} covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male who does not circumcise the flesh of his foreskin—that person must be cut off {nikhretah: judicial exclusion} from his people; he has broken My {YHWH: Covenant Maker} covenant.
15 And God {Elohim: Covenant Renewer} said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you must not call her Sarai {Sarai: earlier name} any longer; Sarah will be her name.”
16 I {Elohim, Promise Keeper} will bless her and also give you a son from her; yes, I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations—kings {malkei: royal heirs} of peoples will come from her.
17 Abraham {Avraham: covenant heir} fell facedown and laughed, saying in his heart, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old {meah shanah: extreme old age}? And can Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”
18 Abraham said to God {Elohim, Faithful Hearer}, “May Ishmael live before You {lefanekha: in Your favor}!”
19 And God {Elohim, Covenant Confirmer} said, “No—Sarah your wife will bear for you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant {berit: binding agreement} with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”
20 Concerning Ishmael, I {Elohim, Attentive Hearer} have heard you. Look: I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly; he will father twelve leaders {nesiim: tribal princes}, and I will make him a great nation.
21 Yet I {Elohim, Covenant Guarantor} will establish My covenant {berit: binding pledge} with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time in the next year.
22 After He finished speaking {ledabber: authoritative speech} with Abraham, God {Elohim, Covenant Confirmer} went up from Abraham.
23 That same day Abraham took Ishmael his son, along with everyone born in his house and everyone bought with his silver {miknat kaspo: owned servants}—every male in Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin, just as God {Elohim, Covenant Commander} had spoken to him.
24 And Abraham {Avraham: Covenant Recipient} was ninety-nine years old {ben tish'im va-tesha shanah: Age Expression} when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 Ishmael, his son {beno: male descendant}, was thirteen years {shanah: completed years} old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 On that very day {be-etsem: precise timing}, Abraham {Avraham: covenant leader} and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
27 All the men of his household {bayit: extended family unit}—those born in his house and those acquired with silver from a foreigner {nechar: non-native outsider}—were circumcised with him.