Amavesi eBhayibheli adumile avela kokuthi Genesis 17

Dlulisela

Later on, when Abram was 99 years old, God showed himself to Abram and said, “I am God. I have power over everything. I want you to live my way and always do the right thing.

So I am changing your name from Abram to Abraham .” (That name Abram means father that people respect , and that name Abraham means father of lots of people .) And God said, “Yes, I will make you the father of lots of nations.

I am making this agreement with you, and with the people that will be born into your family later on. This agreement will last for ever. It will never end. I promise that I will be your God for ever.

“I promise that I will do this for you. I will give you a big family. Lots of people will be born into your family, so that you will be the father of lots of nations.

God said, “No, not Ishmael. Listen, your wife Sarah will have a baby boy. He will be your son, and you will call him Isaac .” (That name Isaac means laugh .) And God said, “He will be the son I’m talking about. I will keep this agreement going with him. It will be the same for him, and for all the people that will be born into his family later on. This agreement will go on for ever.

You see, you are now living in this country called Canaan, but it doesn’t belong to you. But later on, I will give all this country to the people that will be born into your family. They will have this country for themselves for ever, and I will be their God.”

Abraham got down on his knees again and put his face near the ground, and he laughed. He thought, “I am nearly 100 years old, and Sarah is nearly 90. We can’t have a baby. We are too old.”

Then God said to Abraham, “I am changing your wife’s name too. Don’t call her Sarai any more. Call her Sarah .” (Both of those names mean important woman .)

This is what you have to do to show that we made this agreement together. You and every man in your camp has to have the young man operation. And all the men born into your family later on will have to have it too.

But my agreement will not be with Ishmael. You see, about this time next year, your wife Sarah will have a baby boy. He will be your son, and you will call him Isaac , and I will make the same agreement with him that I just made with you.”

From now on, every baby boy in your camp has to have that young man operation 8 days after he is born. Every man in your family has to have that operation. And if you buy a man to work for you, he has to have that operation too. Every male person has to have that mark on his body. It will show that we made this agreement, you and me, and that this agreement will last for ever.