Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord ^lappeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God ^mAlmighty;^{1 n}walk before me, and be ^oblameless, 2 that I may ^pmake my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the ^qfather of a multitude of nations. 5 ^rNo longer shall your name be called Abram,^{2 s}but your name shall be Abraham,³ for ^tI have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly ^ufruitful, and I will make you into nations, and ^vkings shall come from you. 7 And I will ^westablish my covenant between me and you and ^xyour offspring after you throughout their generations for an ^yeverlasting covenant, ^zto be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And ^aI will give to you ^band to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, ^call the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and ^dI will be their God.”

9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 ^eThis is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: ^fEvery male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a ^gsign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is ^height days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house ⁱor bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an ^jeverlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be ^kcut off from his people; he has ^lbroken my covenant.”

Isaac’s Birth Promised

15 And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, ^myou shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah⁴ shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover, I will give⁵ you a son ⁿby her. I will bless her, and ^oshe shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and ^plaughed and said to himself, ^q“Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ^rShall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” 19 God said, ^s“No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall ^tcall his name Isaac.⁶ I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 ^uAs for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and ^vI will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

22 When he had finished talking with him, ^wGod went up from Abraham. 23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 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 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

1 And the Lord ^xappeared to him by the oaks¹ of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^ythree men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and ^zbowed himself to the earth 3 and said, “O Lord,² if I have found favor in your sight, ^ado not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a ^bmorsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! ^cThree seahs³ of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd and took a ^dcalf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

9 They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” 10 The Lord said, ^e“I will surely return to you about this time next year, and ^fSarah your wife shall have a son.” ^gAnd Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. 11 ^hNow Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. 12 So Sarah ⁱlaughed to herself, saying, ^j“After I am worn out, and ^kmy lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 ^lIs anything too hard⁴ for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it,⁵ saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17 The Lord said, ^m“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a ⁿgreat and mighty nation, and ^oall the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have ^pchosen⁶ him, that he may command his children and his household after him to ^qkeep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20 Then the Lord said, “Because the ^routcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and ^stheir sin is very grave, 21 I will go down to see whether they have done altogether⁷ according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

22 So ^tthe men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still ^ustood before ^vthe Lord. 23 Then Abraham drew near and said, ^w“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 ^xFar be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! ^yShall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26 And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am ^zbut ^adust and ashes. 28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29 Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30 Then he said, ^b“Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31 He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32 Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ^cten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star ^hfallen from heaven to earth, and he was given ⁱthe key to the shaft of ^jthe bottomless pit.¹ 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose ^ksmoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came ^llocusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told ^mnot to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but ⁿonly those people who do not have the ^oseal of God ^pon their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people ^qwill seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 ^rIn appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and ^stheir teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was ^tlike the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is ^uAbaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.²

12 The first ^vwoe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from ^wthe four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill ^xa third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; ^yI heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire³ and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, ^zdid not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

I Will Recount Your Wonderful Deeds

¹ To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben.² A Psalm of David.