1 When Abram was 99 years old, Yahweh came and appeared to him and said, “I am the most powerful God, and you must always obey me. You must always do what is right. 2 Let us make a covenant together. I am making this covenant with you so that it will last forever. I will give you many descendants.”

3 Abram bowed down and put his face to the ground to worship God.

And God said to him, 4 “I am making this covenant with you and I will not change it. I am telling you that you will be the ancestor of many different people. 5 From today your name will not be Abram but now you will be called Abraham. I am giving you this new name because you will be the ancestor of many nations.” God said that because Abram means “great father,” but Abraham means “father of many people.”

6 And God said, “I will give you many descendants. Some of them will be kings in their countries. Your descendants will become so many that they will become nations.

7 “I won't change my covenant that I have made. It will last forever, for you and also for your descendants. I will be your God today and always and I will be the God of your descendants. 8 You are living as a stranger here today. But I will give this land to you and your descendants. Even though it belongs to other people today, it will be yours later. The whole land of Canaan will belong to your descendants forever. And I will be their God forever.”

9 Then God said to Abraham, “You must keep my covenant that I have made with you and agree to it. You must not change it and your descendants must not change it. 10 You must promise to circumcise all your men, and your descendants must do the same and circumcise every male person. You must all agree to do this. 11-12 From today you must circumcise your sons when they are eight days old. Not only your children, but those you have bought to work for you as servants, they too must circumcise their sons. It doesn't matter if they were born in your house or in a different country, they must do the same. Then when you do that, everyone will know that you and I have made this covenant together.

13 “Don't circumcise just some of your men but circumcise them all. Then if you do that, it will be a sign that the covenant you and I have made together won't change but it will be forever. 14 Then the men who haven't been circumcised won't be my people, because they haven't kept my covenant that I have made.”

15 Then God said to Abraham, “You must no longer call your wife Sarai, but from today you must call her Sarah. 16 I will bless her. And I will give you a son, and this son of yours will be Sarah's son. I will bless Sarah and she will be the mother of nations. Some of her descendants will become kings and rule in their countries.”

17 Then Abraham bowed down and put his face to the ground to praise God. But he laughed because he thought, “How can I have children when I am already 100 years old? And how can Sarah have a child when she is 90 years old? She is a very old woman already!” 18 He asked God, “Why can't Ishmael have my things when I die?”

19 But God said, “No! Your wife Sarah will give birth to a baby boy for you and you will call him Isaac.” God said that because Isaac means “he laughs.”

Then he said, “The covenant that I have made with you will be for him too, and it will never change. It will last forever, for him and for his descendants forever. 20 I have heard what you asked me about Ishmael, and so I will bless him too, and I will also give him many children and many descendants. His twelve sons will be kings who will rule over their countries. All his many descendants will be one great nation.

21 “As for Isaac, Sarah will give birth to him next year. Then I will keep my covenant, the one that you and I have made, with Isaac in his turn.” 22 When God finished speaking to Abraham, he left him.

23 On that same day Abraham obeyed God and circumcised his son Ishmael and all the other men and boys living in his house. He circumcised his servants, those he had bought, and those who were born in his house, and all the children of the servants.

24 Abraham was 99 years old at the time when they circumcised him, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old. 26 They circumcised them both on the one day, 27 and also all the servants who stayed with Abraham.