The New Book of Genesis Chapter 17



17:1     When Abram was 99 years old

Yahweh appeared to Abram and said:

I am Almighty God.

Follow me and become perfect.

 

17:2     Thus I make this promise to you

and you will become extremely successful.

 

17:3     Abram bowed down before Him

and God spoke to him:

 

17:4     UnderstandMe.

My promise is to you

so you shall be a teacher

of many people.

 

17:5     Nor shall you be called Abram.

Instead your name shall be Abraham

for I make you the teacher

of many peoples.

 

17:6     I will make you very productive

and peoples will follow you

and their leaders will follow you.

 

17:7     Thus I make this promise

to you and your followers after you

for many generations to come

to be your God

to you and your followers.

 

17:8     I give you and your followers

a world you do not know

beyond the lands of Canaan

to have as an eternal abode

for I will become their God.

 

17:9     And God said to Abraham:

Remember this promise

you and your followers after you

throughout their generations.

 

17:10   Keep this commitment

in exchange for the promise I made you

and your followers after you:

Purge what is unclean

among every person.

 

17:11   Thus you can cleanse the covering

of flesh over your hearts

as a sign of the commitment

between Me and you.

 

17:12   On the eighth day

the followers among you

will become purified:

Those born in your house

or purchased from abroad

or otherwise not your follower.

 

17:13   Followers born in your house

or those who are purchased

must be cleansed from the flesh

to fulfill my promise.

 

17:14   Then the uncleansed person

who has not undergone purification

of the flesh covering the heart

his soul will become lost

to his people

because he turned away

from my promise.

 

17:15   The Almighty said to Abraham:

With regard to Sarai your wife

you should not call her Sarai

but rather call her Sarah.

 

17:16   I will bless her

and she will give you a son

and she will be a mother of the people

and chiefs of tribes will follower her.

 

17:17   Then Abraham bowed down

and chuckled saying to himself:

Can a child be born to a man

who is one hundred years old?

Can Sarah at ninety years old

still bear a child?

 

17:18   Then Abraham said to God:

If only Ishmael could

live in Your presence!

 

17:19   Then God spoke to him:

Your wife Sarah will bear you a son

and you will call him Isaac.

I will maintain My promise with him

with a perpetual commitment

for him and his followers after him.

 

17:20   As far as Ishmael

I have heard you.

Know that I have blessed him

and will help him be productive

and he will become exceedingly great.

He will bring forth twelve chiefs

and will be given a great people.

 

17:21   Then I will make My promise

also with Isaac

whom Sarah shall bear to you

this time next year.

 

17:22   When He completed speaking

God departed from Abraham.

 

17:23   Then Abraham took Ishmael his son

all who were born in his family

and all who were purchased in trade

every male of Abraham's household

and cleansed them of the covering

over their hearts that very same day

just as God had recommended.

 

17:24   Abraham was 99 years old

when he was purified

of the covering over his heart.