1 And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
3 And Abram fell on his face; and God spoke unto him, saying,
4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations.
5 Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but you name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of many nations.
6 And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from your line.
7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you, throughout their generations; for an everlasting covenant: to be a God unto you and to your seed after you.
8 And I will give unto you, and to you seed after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
9 And God said unto Abraham, “And as for you, you shalt keep my covenant, you, and your seed after you throughout their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and you seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of your seed.
13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must need be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.“
15 And God said unto Abraham, ”As for Sarai thy wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah.
16 And I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son from her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.”
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear children?’
18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
19 And God said, “No, but Sarah thy wife shall bear you a son; and you shall call his name Isaac[e]; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time in the next year.”
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said to him.
24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
26 In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
[1a] Hebrew El Shaddai.
[5] “Abraham” — That is, exalted father; father of a multitude. Although Rashi writes this promise primarily refers to Israel and Edom (since Ishmael had already been born) it also is seen in the naming of converts “Ben Abraham” (son of Abraham) that some among nations of the world have been made son of Abraham! However we still do not go beyond the simple meaning of this verse since as so named, the converts become a member of the nation of Israel; they must be or become a member of the house of Abraham in order to be circumcised under this covenant (i.e. not only those born to him or in his house, or those bought with his money, but primarily “all the men of his house” and not specifically or solely Ishmael).
[11] It is said the location in general (‘in the flesh of the foreskin’) but the process or method of 'circumcision' is not discussed in the text.
[12] foreigner; i.e. convert (see 17:27, 18:18, notes and commentary).
[15d] That is, Princess.
[19e] From the Hebrew word meaning to laugh.
[27] ‘all the men of his house’ vs. ‘those born in his house’ and ‘those bought;’ means anyone in the household of Abraham who will follow this covenant. The men of his house are those who are not his family at that time (not Issac who has not been born and not Ishmael who was born in his house); even anyone who has come to dwell in Abraham’s house and follow him. So these men were the first converts and would take the name ‘Ben Abraham’ (son of Abraham) (see 17:12, 18:18).
h.אני אל שדי (’ă-nî- ’êl šad-day) “I am God Almighty” — I am He whose (ש) Godship suffices (די) for every creature (Genesis Rabbah 46:3), therefore, “walk before Me”, and I will be your God and Protector. Similarly, wherever in the Scriptures this Divine Name שדי occurs, it signifies the idea of His sufficiency — but it all depends upon the context as to what the “sufficiency” refers to.
h.התהלך לפני “walk before me” — as the Targum takes it: worship before Me — cleave to My service.
h.והיה תמים “and be perfect” — This, too, is a command following upon the previous command: be whole-hearted in all the trials I impose upon you. According to the Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 46:4), however, it means: walk before Me by observing the precept of circumcision and through this you will become perfect, for so long as you are uncircumcised I regard you as having a blemish. Another explanation of היה תמים “be thou perfect” — at present you lack the power of controlling morally five organs, viz., two eyes, two ears and the membrum. Therefore will I add a letter (i. e. the letter 'ה the numerical value of which is five) to your name (אברם which equals 243) so that the total of the letters of your name (אברהם) will become 248, corresponding to the number of limbs of your body (cf. Nedarim 32b).
h.ויפל אברם על פניו “And Abram fell upon his face,” through fear of the Shechinah, because before he was circumcised he did not have the strength to stand on his feet whilst the Holy Spirit stood over him; and it is to this that what is stated in the case of the heathen Balaam refers, (Numbers 24:4) “fallen down, yet with open eyes”. This is to be found in Baraitha of R. Eliezer (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 29).
h.והקמתי את בריתי “And I will establish my covenant” — And what is this Covenant? להיות לך לאלהים TO BE A GOD UNTO THEE.
h.'ביני וביניכם וגו “between me and you” — [here] “you” is plural and refers to all those belonging to Abraham who were then alive.
h.ובין זרעך אחריך “and thy seed after thee” — those who are yet to be born.
h.המול is an infinitive equal to h.לְהִמּוֹל just as you may say h.עַשׂוֹת in place of h.לעשות (i.e. the infinitive may be with or without ל prefixed).
h.יליד בית HE THAT IS BORN IN THE HOUSE — one to whom a handmaid gave birth in the house.
h.מקנת כסף HE THAT IS BOUGHT WITH THY MONEY — one whom a person bought after his birth.
h.וערל זכר AND THE UNCIRCUMCISED MALE — This phrase teaches that circumcision must be at that place where the distinction between male and female is evident (Genesis Rabbah 46:13).
h.לא תקרא את שמה שרי THOU SHALT NOT CALL HER NAME SARAI which means “my princess”— a princess to me and not to others — BUT SARAH, in a more general sense, SHALL BE HER NAME: she shall be princess over all (Berakhot 13a).
h.וברבתי אותה AND I WILL BLESS HER — And in what did the blessing consist? In that she resumed her youthfulness, as it is said, (Genesis 18:12) “shall I have the pleasure of youth again?” (Genesis Rabbah 47:2)
h.ויפל אברהם על פניו ויצחק AND ABRAHAM FELL UPON HIS FACE AND LAUGHED — This word ויצחק Onkelos translates by וחדי which signifies joy (“and he rejoiced’’) but the similar verb in the case of Sarah (ותצחק Genesis 18:12) he translates as meaning laughter. From this you may understand that Abraham had faith and rejoiced, and that Sarah had no faith and sneered, and that is why God was angry with Sarah (when she laughed) but was not angry with Abraham.
h.הלבן SHALL A CHILD BE BORN TO ONE WHO IS A HUNDRED YEARS OLD? — There are some questions expressing astonishment which do not imply a doubt but rather affirm the certainty that the circumstance referred to has happened or will happen, as (1 Samuel 2:2) “Did I reveal myself [unto thy father’s house?]” (Of course, I did) and (Ezekiel 8:6) “Seest thou what they do?” (You, of course, have seen it). This question, too, affirms the certainty that it is possible for God to cause Abraham, at the age of hundred, to beget a son and this is in effect what he said to himself: Would there be done to another man one hundred years old this favour that the Holy One, blessed be He, is doing to me”? (Rashi means that the words must be translated, “would a child be born to any other person who is a hundred years old?”).
h.ואם שרה הבת תשעים שנה OR SHALL SARAH, WHO IS NINETY YEARS OLD be worthy to bear a son? Although the previous generations used to beget at the age of five hundred years, yet in Abraham’s days the length of life had already become shorter and a diminution of strength had come upon people. Go and learn this from the ten generations from Noah to Abraham who begot their children at the then early age of sixty or seventy.
h.לו ישמעאל יחיה means O THAT ISHMAEL MIGHT LIVE: I am unworthy to receive such a reward!
h.וקראת את שמו יצחק AND THOU SHALL CALL HIS NAME ISAAC — with reference to his laughter. Some say the name has reference to the ten (י) trials, the ninety (צ) years of Sarah’s age, the eight (ח) days of the circumcision and the hundred (ק) years of Abraham’s age (Genesis Rabbah 53:7).
h.והקמתי את בריתי AND I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH HIM — Why is this stated? Is it not already written (Genesis 17:9) “as for thee, thou shalt keep My Covenant, thou and thy seed etc.”? But since is said, (Genesis 17:7) and I will establish My Covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations”, it might be inferred that the children of Ishmael and the children of Keturah (who are all descendants of Abraham) are included in this promise of the establishment of the Covenant, therefore it states here (Genesis 17:19) “And I will establish My Covenant with him (Isaac), not with the others” (cf. Sanhedrin 59b). If so, why is there a repetition of the statement that the covenant will be established with Isaac in the words (Genesis 17:21) ואת בריתי אקים את יצחק “but My Covenant will I establish with Isaac”? But it is repeated in order to add the words אשר תלד so as to teach that he was holy from his birth (Shabbat 137b). Another explanation of why 5:21 is repeated is: R. Aba said, “from here Scripture draws a logical conclusion regarding the son of the Mistress (Sarah) from what is said regarding the son of the handmaid (Hagar): It is written (Genesis 17:20) “Behold I have blessed him and will make him fruitful”, and this refers to Ishmael: Surely then, it follows logically that “I must establish my covenant (of blessing) with Isaac also!” (Genesis Rabbah 47:5).
h.את בריתי [I WILL ESTABLISH] MY COVENANT — The Covenant of circumcision shall be transmitted only to the descendants of Isaac.
h.שנים עשר נשיאים TWELVE PRINCES — like clouds shall they vanish, the word נשיאים being explained here as the same word in (Proverbs 25:14) נשיאים ורוח “Clouds and wind”
h.בעצם היום IN THE SELFSAME DAY — on the very day when he received the command of circumcision: by day and not by night — he was afraid neither of the heathens nor of the cynics. And he did it in broad daylight in order that his enemies and other people should not say, “If we had seen him we would never have allowed him to practise circumcision and carry out the commandment of the Omnipresent (Genesis Rabbah 47:9).
h.וימל AND HE CURCUMCISED — This is a Kal form (active).
h.בהמלו WHEN HE WAS CIRCUMCISED — a Niphal form (passive), like (Genesis 2:4) בהבראם “when they were created”.