Genesis 17

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Thirteen years of silence separate this chapter from the birth of Ishmael at the end of chapter 16. Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born (16:16); he is now 99. The narrator offers no account of the intervening years — God's word simply resumes when God chooses.
2. 'I am God Almighty' (ani El Shaddai, אֵל שַׁדַּי) — this is the first occurrence of the divine title El Shaddai in Scripture. The etymology of Shaddai is debated: it may derive from shadad ('to overpower'), from shad ('mountain'), or from a cognate meaning 'breast' (suggesting nourishment and sufficiency). The Septuagint renders it pantokrator ('Almighty'). Whatever its origin, the title emphasizes God's sovereign power — the very power needed to fulfill promises that seem biologically impossible.
3. 'Walk before me' (hithalekh lefanai) — the Hitpael of halakh implies continuous, habitual conduct. To 'walk before' God is to live one's entire life in conscious awareness of God's presence and scrutiny. The preposition lefanai ('before my face') suggests both intimacy and accountability.
4. 'Be blameless' (heyeh tamim) — tamim means 'complete, whole, without defect.' It is used of sacrificial animals that must be without blemish (Lev 1:3). Applied to a person, it does not mean sinless perfection but wholehearted integrity — undivided loyalty, complete devotion. Noah was also called tamim (6:9).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I will set my covenant' (ettenah veriti) — the verb natan ('to give, set, place') rather than karat ('to cut') is used here. God does not 'cut' a new covenant but 'gives' or 'places' one. This may suggest that the covenant is a gift bestowed rather than a bilateral negotiation. The distinction between natan and karat is significant: in chapter 15 God 'cut' the covenant with a dramatic ritual; here he 'gives' it as a sovereign grant.
2. 'Exceedingly' (bim'od me'od) — literally 'in very very,' an intensification by doubling. The same construction appears in 7:19 for the floodwaters. The doubling underscores the extravagance of the divine promise.

Translator Notes

1. 'Fell on his face' (vayyippol al-panav) — a posture of extreme reverence, submission, and awe. Abram's physical response precedes any words. Before the God who identifies himself as El Shaddai, the only fitting response is prostration. This gesture will be repeated in verse 17, though with a very different emotional register.
2. The narrator shifts from 'the LORD' (YHWH, v. 1) to 'God' (Elohim) here. Both names refer to the same God, but Elohim emphasizes the cosmic, sovereign dimension — fitting for a passage about covenant establishment with universal implications.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'As for me' (ani) — the emphatic pronoun marks a shift. God speaks first of his own commitment before imposing any obligation. The covenant begins with what God does, not what Abram must do.
2. 'Father of a multitude of nations' (av hamon goyim) — this phrase will be embedded in Abram's new name (v. 5). The word hamon means 'multitude, crowd, tumult' — a roaring abundance. The promise extends beyond one nation; Abraham will be the ancestor of many peoples. The word goyim ('nations') will later acquire the connotation of 'gentile nations,' but here it simply means 'peoples' in the broadest sense.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The name change from Abram (Avram, 'exalted father') to Abraham (Avraham) is one of the most significant renaming acts in Scripture. In the ancient Near East, to rename someone was to assert authority over them and to redefine their identity and destiny. God exercises sovereign prerogative here.
2. The text explains the new name as derived from av hamon ('father of a multitude'). Linguistically, the connection is folk etymology — the 'ha' in Avraham does not straightforwardly derive from hamon. But the theological point is what matters: the name now encodes the promise. Every time Abraham is addressed, the promise of nations is invoked.
3. 'I have made you' (netatikha) — the perfect tense indicates completed action. God speaks of a future reality as already accomplished. Abraham is not becoming the father of nations; in God's reckoning, he already is. This is the language of divine decree, where the word constitutes the reality it describes.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I will make you exceedingly fruitful' (vehifreti otkha bim'od me'od) — the verb parah ('to be fruitful') echoes the creation mandate of 1:28 ('be fruitful and multiply'). God's covenant with Abraham is a renewal and intensification of the original blessing given to humanity. What was commanded of Adam is now promised to Abraham.
2. 'Kings shall come forth from you' (umelakhim mimmekha yetse'u) — this looks forward to the royal line that will emerge from Abraham's descendants: the kings of Israel and Judah, and ultimately the Messianic king. The promise elevates Abraham's role from tribal patriarch to founder of dynasties.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I will establish my covenant' (vahaqimoti et-beriti) — the verb qum in the Hiphil ('to cause to stand, to establish, to raise up') conveys permanence and stability. The covenant is not merely announced but erected like a standing pillar — a structure meant to endure.
2. 'Everlasting covenant' (berit olam) — olam means 'perpetual, age-long, everlasting.' This is the first use of berit olam in Scripture. The covenant is not for a season or a generation but for all time. The same phrase will describe the Sabbath (Exod 31:16), the Levitical priesthood (Num 25:13), and the Davidic throne (2 Sam 23:5).
3. 'To be God to you and to your offspring' (lihyot lekha le'Elohim ulezar'akha acharekha) — this is the covenant formula that runs throughout Scripture: 'I will be your God, and you will be my people' (cf. Exod 6:7; Jer 31:33; Rev 21:3). The deepest content of the covenant is not land, offspring, or blessing — it is relationship with God himself.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'The land of your sojournings' (erets megureikha) — megureim derives from gur ('to sojourn, to dwell as a resident alien'). The irony is pointed: the very land in which Abraham lives as a foreigner and temporary resident will become his descendants' permanent inheritance. The land of alienation becomes the land of possession.
2. 'Everlasting possession' (achuzzat olam) — achuzzah means 'property, possession, holding.' Combined with olam, it designates a permanent, inalienable inheritance. This is the strongest possible land grant — not a lease or temporary grant but an irrevocable deed.
3. 'And I will be their God' (vehayiti lahem le'Elohim) — the covenant formula is repeated. The land promise is embedded within the relational promise. The land is not an end in itself but the place where God's people will live in God's presence.

Translator Notes

1. 'As for you' (ve'attah) — the emphatic pronoun shifts the focus from God's obligations (vv. 4–8) to Abraham's. God has declared what he will do; now comes what Abraham must do. The structure is that of a royal grant with stipulations: the king bestows, and the vassal responds.
2. 'You shall keep my covenant' (et-beriti tishmor) — the verb shamar ('to keep, guard, observe') implies active, vigilant maintenance. It is the same verb used of Adam's charge to 'keep' the garden (2:15). Covenant-keeping is not passive receipt but active stewardship.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Every male among you shall be circumcised' (himmol lakhem kol-zakhar) — the verb mul ('to circumcise') appears here in the Niphal (passive): 'shall be circumcised.' The sign of the covenant is not a monument or a document but a permanent mark on the body. The covenant is literally inscribed in flesh.
2. Circumcision was practiced in the ancient Near East by other peoples (Egyptians, Moabites, Ammonites), but with different significance — often as a puberty rite or pre-marriage ritual. What distinguishes Israelite circumcision is its covenantal meaning: it is a sign of belonging to God, performed on infants who cannot consent, marking them as members of the covenant community before they can choose.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'A sign of the covenant' (ot berit) — an ot is a visible marker that points beyond itself to a reality it represents. The rainbow was an ot of the Noahic covenant (9:12–13); circumcision is the ot of the Abrahamic covenant. A sign is not the covenant itself but its visible, tangible expression.
2. The location of the sign on the reproductive organ is theologically deliberate. The covenant promises center on offspring — descendants as numerous as the stars. The sign is placed on the very member through which those descendants will come. Every act of generation thus occurs under the sign of the covenant.

Translator Notes

1. 'Eight days old' (ben shemonat yamim) — the specification of the eighth day is precise and deliberate. The number eight in biblical symbolism represents new beginning — the day after the complete cycle of seven. Medically, vitamin K and prothrombin levels in a newborn reach optimal levels around the eighth day, though this was unknown to the ancient world.
2. 'Born in the house or purchased with silver' (yelid bayit umiqnat-kesef) — the scope of circumcision extends beyond biological descendants to include all males in the household, including servants acquired by purchase. The covenant community is defined not solely by bloodline but by household belonging. This is a remarkably inclusive provision for an ancient covenant.

Translator Notes

1. 'Must certainly be circumcised' (himmol yimmol) — the infinitive absolute construction (himmol yimmol) expresses emphatic certainty. This is not optional. The doubling of the verb intensifies the command: 'he shall surely, absolutely, without exception be circumcised.'
2. 'My covenant shall be in your flesh' (vehayetah veriti bivsarkhem) — the covenant is literally embodied. It is not merely remembered or recited but carried in the body. The word basar ('flesh') emphasizes the physical, material reality of covenant membership. There is no disembodied spirituality here — the covenant is as real as the body that bears its mark.
3. 'Everlasting covenant' (berit olam) — the phrase from verse 7 is repeated, now applied specifically to circumcision. The sign shares the permanence of the covenant it represents.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Shall be cut off from his people' (venikhretah hannefesh hahi me'ammeha) — the verb karat ('to cut off') creates a grim wordplay with the act of circumcision itself. The one who refuses to 'cut' the foreskin will himself be 'cut off' from the community. The punishment mirrors the violation in its very language.
2. 'That person' (hannefesh hahi) — nefesh here means 'person, individual, self' rather than 'soul' in the Greek philosophical sense. The entire person is cut off — not just a spiritual part.
3. 'He has broken my covenant' (et-beriti hefar) — the verb parar ('to break, annul, frustrate') means to treat the covenant as null and void. Refusal of the sign is treated as rejection of the covenant itself. The sign is not separable from the reality it represents.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Sarai's renaming parallels Abram's. Both names — Sarai (שָׂרַי) and Sarah (שָׂרָה) — are generally understood to mean 'princess,' though the forms differ dialectically. Sarai may be an older or archaic form, while Sarah is the standard Hebrew. The change in form, however slight, carries the same weight as Abram's renaming: God redefines her identity and destiny.
2. That God renames both husband and wife underscores that the covenant includes both. Sarah is not an afterthought or appendage to the Abrahamic covenant; she is a named, integral participant. Her womb is the means through which the covenant promise will be fulfilled.
3. The parallel structure — 'no longer shall you call' (lo tiqra) followed by 'for X shall be her name' (ki Sarah shemah) — mirrors the formula used for Abraham in verse 5. The symmetry is deliberate.

Translator Notes

1. 'I will bless her' (uverakhti otah) — the verb barakh ('to bless') is used twice in this verse, emphasizing the fullness of divine favor upon Sarah. The repetition is not redundancy but intensification. God blesses her person and blesses her role.
2. 'I will give you a son by her' (vegam natatti mimennah lekha ben) — the word gam ('also, indeed') carries force here. It is not merely that Abraham will have a son (he already has Ishmael) but that Sarah specifically will bear a son. The promise is channeled through her body, through the very womb that has been closed for decades.
3. 'Kings of peoples shall come from her' (malkhei ammim mimennah yihyu) — the promise of kings, given to Abraham in verse 6, is now given to Sarah as well. She is co-heir of the royal promise. The phrase 'kings of peoples' (malkhei ammim) is broader than 'kings of Israel' — it encompasses the nations that will trace their ancestry through her.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He fell on his face and laughed' (vayyippol al-panav vayyitschaq) — Abraham falls on his face as he did in verse 3, but this time the prostration is accompanied by laughter. The verb tsachaq (צָחַק) is the root of the name Isaac (Yitschaq, יִצְחָק). This is the first of several laughter episodes connected to Isaac's name: Abraham laughs here, Sarah will laugh in 18:12, and the name Isaac will be explained as 'he laughs' (21:6). The laughter is complex — it contains wonder, incredulity, joy, and perhaps the helpless mirth of a man confronting the impossible.
2. 'He said in his heart' (vayyomer belibbo) — this is interior speech, not spoken aloud. The narrator gives us access to Abraham's private thoughts. His public posture is prostration; his private response is astonished questioning. The combination of reverence and bewilderment is deeply human.
3. The ages are precise and deliberately absurd from a human perspective: a hundred-year-old father, a ninety-year-old mother. The impossibility is the point. The covenant promise requires divine intervention at the level of biology itself.

Translator Notes

1. 'If only' (lu) — the particle lu introduces a wish or an unfulfilled desire. Abraham's plea is tender and poignant. He has lived with Ishmael for thirteen years; the boy is his son, his firstborn, the child he loves. When God announces a new son through Sarah, Abraham's first thought is not for himself but for Ishmael: let him not be forgotten, let him not be cast aside.
2. 'Might live before you' (yichyeh lefanekha) — 'to live before God' means to live under God's favor, protection, and blessing. Abraham is not merely asking that Ishmael survive physically but that he enjoy a life of divine favor. The plea reveals Abraham's character: he is a father who advocates for his son, even when God is redirecting the covenant promise elsewhere.
3. This verse exposes the tension in Abraham's heart. He has received the promise of Isaac, yet he cannot release Ishmael. Human love does not yield easily to divine reordering. Abraham's advocacy for Ishmael is not faithlessness — it is fatherhood.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'No' (aval) — this particle is adversative, expressing strong contrast or correction. God gently but firmly redirects Abraham's attention. The plea for Ishmael is heard, but it does not alter the covenant plan. Aval can also mean 'indeed, truly' — 'truly, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son.' Either reading reinforces the certainty of the promise through Sarah.
2. 'You shall call his name Isaac' (veqarata et-shemo Yitschaq) — God himself names the child before conception. The name Yitschaq ('he laughs') memorializes Abraham's laughter in verse 17. Every time the name is spoken, it will recall the astonished, joyful disbelief of a father who heard the impossible announced as certain. The laughter is not punished but preserved — woven into the child's identity.
3. 'Everlasting covenant for his offspring' — the covenant line is specified with precision: not Ishmael but Isaac, and Isaac's offspring after him. The covenant is not a general blessing on all of Abraham's descendants equally but a specific, channeled promise through one particular line.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'I have heard you' (shema'tikha) — God acknowledges Abraham's plea. The verb shama ('to hear') contains a wordplay with the name Ishmael (Yishma'el, 'God hears'). God heard Hagar's affliction and named the boy 'God hears' (16:11); now God hears Abraham's intercession for that same boy. The name proves true again.
2. 'Twelve princes' (shenim-asar nesi'im) — the number twelve parallels the twelve tribes that will descend from Isaac through Jacob. Ishmael's twelve princes (listed in 25:13–16) form a structural parallel to Israel's twelve tribes. The blessing on Ishmael is real and substantial — great nation, fruitful, multiplied, princely — but it is distinct from the covenant.
3. 'A great nation' (goy gadol) — the same phrase used of Abraham's own destiny in 12:2. Ishmael will share in the blessing of greatness, even though the covenant line passes through Isaac. God's response to Abraham's plea is generous: Ishmael is not rejected but abundantly blessed.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'But my covenant' (ve'et-beriti) — the adversative force is clear. Despite the generous blessings on Ishmael, the covenant is directed elsewhere. The distinction between blessing and covenant is crucial in Genesis: many are blessed, but the covenant line is singular and specific.
2. 'At this appointed time next year' (lammo'ed hazzeh bashanah ha'acheret) — mo'ed means 'appointed time, set time, season.' The birth of Isaac is not left vague but given a specific timetable. God sets an appointment. The precision underscores divine sovereignty over time and biology alike. The word mo'ed will later designate the appointed festivals of Israel (Lev 23).
3. This verse establishes the theological distinction that will run through the rest of Genesis and into Paul's argument in Romans 9 and Galatians 4: the line of promise is not determined by natural birth order (Ishmael is firstborn) but by divine election (Isaac is chosen).

Translator Notes

1. 'God went up from Abraham' (vayya'al Elohim me'al Avraham) — the verb 'alah ('to go up, to ascend') implies that God's presence had descended to Abraham's level for this encounter. The departure is described spatially: God ascends, Abraham remains below. The language suggests a theophany — a visible, localized manifestation of God that has a beginning and an end.
2. The abruptness of the departure is striking. There is no farewell, no closing liturgy, no final blessing formula. God finishes speaking, and God leaves. The weight of what has been said — covenant, circumcision, name changes, the promise of Isaac — is left with Abraham to absorb and obey.

Translator Notes

1. 'On that very day' (be'etsem hayyom hazzeh) — the phrase be'etsem ('in the bone/substance of') emphasizes immediacy. Abraham does not wait, does not deliberate, does not seek counsel. The same day God speaks, Abraham obeys. This immediate compliance contrasts with the complex, hesitant responses that have characterized earlier episodes (the sojourn in Egypt, the Hagar arrangement). Here Abraham's obedience is swift and total.
2. 'Just as God had spoken to him' (ka'asher dibber itto Elohim) — the narrator confirms that Abraham's action corresponds exactly to God's command. There is no deviation, no modification, no partial compliance. The phrase functions as a formula of obedient fulfillment, paralleling the construction patterns in the flood narrative ('Noah did according to all that God commanded him,' 6:22).
3. The scope of the circumcision is emphasized by the comprehensive listing: Ishmael, those born in the house, those purchased with silver, every male. Abraham's obedience extends to his entire household — he does not circumcise only himself or only his biological son.

Translator Notes

1. The narrator restates Abraham's age — ninety-nine — at the moment of circumcision. The repetition from verse 1 creates an inclusio (literary bracket) around the chapter. The chapter begins with Abraham at ninety-nine hearing the command; it ends with Abraham at ninety-nine obeying it. The same day, the same age, the same man — but now marked in his flesh by the covenant.
2. That a ninety-nine-year-old man submits to circumcision underscores the radical nature of Abraham's obedience. This is not a painless ritual for an infant but a voluntary act of physical suffering by an aged man. The covenant costs something.

Translator Notes

1. Ishmael's age — thirteen — is precisely recorded. In later Jewish tradition, thirteen becomes the age of bar mitzvah, the age of religious responsibility, though this connection is not explicitly made in the text. In Islamic tradition, Ishmael's circumcision at thirteen is sometimes cited as the basis for circumcision at puberty rather than infancy.
2. The juxtaposition of Abraham at ninety-nine and Ishmael at thirteen shows both patriarch and son united in obedience. Ishmael, old enough to resist, apparently submits to his father's decision. The narrator records no protest.

Translator Notes

1. 'On that very day' (be'etsem hayyom hazzeh) — the phrase is repeated from verse 23, hammering home the point of immediate obedience. The narrator wants no ambiguity: the circumcision happened the same day as the command. There was no interval of delay, no period of consideration.
2. Father and son are circumcised together — united in the sign of the covenant. Despite the fact that the covenant line will pass through Isaac rather than Ishmael, both bear the covenantal mark. Ishmael is blessed (v. 20) and marked (v. 26), even though the covenant proper belongs to Isaac (v. 21). The distinction between blessing and covenant election remains, but both are real.

Translator Notes

1. The chapter ends not with Abraham alone but with his entire household. The final word is 'with him' (itto) — they were circumcised with him. Abraham does not merely obey for himself; he brings his whole community into the covenant sign. He is a patriarch in the fullest sense: one who leads his household in faithfulness.
2. The inclusion of those 'purchased with silver from a foreigner' (miqnat-kesef me'et ben-nekhar) reiterates the remarkable scope of the covenant community. It is not ethnically exclusive at this stage — foreigners brought into Abraham's household are brought under the covenant sign. The community of the circumcised is defined by belonging to Abraham's house, not by bloodline alone.
3. The chapter that began with God's appearance ends with human obedience. The structure is theological: divine initiative (vv. 1–22) followed by human response (vv. 23–27). God speaks; Abraham acts. The covenant is established by God and enacted by Abraham. This pattern — divine word, human obedience — will define the rest of the biblical narrative.