God

That day ADONAI made a covenant with Avram: "I have given this land to your descendants - from the Vadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River -

so Sarai said to Avram, "Here now, ADONAI has kept me from having children; so go in and sleep with my slave-girl. Maybe I'll be able to have children through her."Avram listened to what Sarai said.

Sarai said to Avram, "This outrage being done to me is your fault! True, I gave my slave-girl to you to sleep with; but when she saw that she was pregnant, she began holding me in contempt. May ADONAI decide who is right - I or you!"

The angel of ADONAI found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur,

The angel of ADONAI said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit to her authority."

The angel of ADONAI said to her, "I will greatly increase your descendants; there will be so many that it will be impossible to count them."

The angel of ADONAI said to her, "Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma'el [God pays attention] because ADONAI has paid attention to your misery.

So she named ADONAI who had spoken with her El Ro'i [God of seeing], because she said, "Have I really seen the One who sees me [and stayed alive]?"

When Avram was 99 years old ADONAI appeared to Avram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted.

I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly."

Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him:

"As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations.

Your name will no longer be Avram [exalted father], but your name will be Avraham [father of many], because I have made you the father of many nations.

I will cause you to be very fruitful. I will make nations of you, kings will descend from you.

"I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you.

I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena'an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."

God said to Avraham, "As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.

Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised.

You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

Any uncircumcised male who will not let himself be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin -that person will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my covenant."

God said to Avraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess].

I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."

Avraham said to God, "If only Yishma'el could live in your presence!"

God answered, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz'chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.