Kejadian 9:8-17

9:8 God said to Noah and his sons, ¹  9:9 “Look! I now confirm ²  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ³  9:10 and with every living creature that is with you, including the birds, the domestic animals, and every living creature of the earth with you, all those that came out of the ark with you – every living creature of the earth. ⁴  9:11 I confirm ⁵  my covenant with you: Never again will all living things ⁶  be wiped out ⁷  by the waters of a flood; ⁸  never again will a flood destroy the earth.”

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ⁹  of the covenant I am making ¹⁰  with you ¹¹  and every living creature with you, a covenant ¹²  for all subsequent ¹³  generations: 9:13 I will place ¹⁴  my rainbow ¹⁵  in the clouds, and it will become ¹⁶  a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 9:14 Whenever ¹⁷  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 9:15 then I will remember my covenant with you ¹⁸  and with all living creatures of all kinds. ¹⁹  Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy ²⁰  all living things. ²¹  9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ²²  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

9:17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things ²³  that are on the earth.”

Kejadian 17:1-27

The Sign of the Covenant

17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, ²⁴  the Lord appeared to him and said, ²⁵  “I am the sovereign God. ²⁶  Walk ²⁷  before me ²⁸  and be blameless. ²⁹  17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant ³⁰  between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” ³¹ 

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ³²  and God said to him, ³³  17:4 “As for me, ³⁴  this ³⁵  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 No longer will your name be ³⁶  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ³⁷  because I will make you ³⁸  the father of a multitude of nations. 17:6 I will make you ³⁹  extremely ⁴⁰  fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ⁴¹  17:7 I will confirm ⁴²  my covenant as a perpetual ⁴³  covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁴⁴  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ⁴⁵  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ⁴⁶  possession. I will be their God.”

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ⁴⁷  the covenantal requirement ⁴⁸  I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 17:10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: ⁴⁹  Every male among you must be circumcised. ⁵⁰  17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ⁵¹  of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ⁵²  must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 17:13 They must indeed be circumcised, ⁵³  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ⁵⁴  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ⁵⁵  reminder. 17:14 Any uncircumcised male ⁵⁶  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ⁵⁷  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ⁵⁸ 

17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; ⁵⁹  Sarah ⁶⁰  will be her name. 17:16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. ⁶¹  Kings of countries ⁶²  will come from her!”

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ⁶³  as he said to himself, ⁶⁴  “Can ⁶⁵  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁶⁶  Can Sarah ⁶⁷  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁶⁸  17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ⁶⁹  Ishmael might live before you!” ⁷⁰ 

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ⁷¹  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ⁷²  covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ⁷³  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ⁷⁴  He will become the father of twelve princes; ⁷⁵  I will make him into a great nation. 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” 17:22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. ⁷⁶ 

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ⁷⁷  and circumcised them ⁷⁸  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old ⁷⁹  when he was circumcised; ⁸⁰  17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old ⁸¹  when he was circumcised. 17:26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day. 17:27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Kejadian 24:7

24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ⁸²  promised me with a solemn oath, ⁸³  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ⁸⁴  before you so that you may find ⁸⁵  a wife for my son from there.

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “to Noah and to his sons with him, saying.”

[9:9]  ² tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ³ tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[9:10]  ⁴ tn The verbal repetition is apparently for emphasis.

[9:11]  ⁵ tn The verb וַהֲקִמֹתִי (vahaqimoti) is a perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive and should be translated with the English present tense, just as the participle at the beginning of the speech was (v. 9). Another option is to translate both forms with the English future tense (“I will confirm”).

[9:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut off.”

[9:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “and all flesh will not be cut off again by the waters of the flood.”

[9:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ¹⁰ sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ¹² tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:13]  ¹⁴ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is used rhetorically, emphasizing the certainty of the action. Other translation options include “I have placed” (present perfect; cf. NIV, NRSV) and “I place” (instantaneous perfect; cf. NEB).

[9:13]  ¹⁵ sn The Hebrew word קֶשֶׁת (qeshet) normally refers to a warrior’s bow. Some understand this to mean that God the warrior hangs up his battle bow at the end of the flood, indicating he is now at peace with humankind, but others question the legitimacy of this proposal. See C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:473, and G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:196.

[9:13]  ¹⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here has the same aspectual function as the preceding perfect of certitude.

[9:14]  ¹⁷ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “which [is] between me and between you.”

[9:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to destroy.”

[9:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[9:16]  ²² tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[9:17]  ²³ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[17:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

[17:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[17:1]  ²⁶ tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew mss, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the LXX, and Syriac) as the one who provides abundant blessings, including “blessings of the breast and womb” (49:25). (The direct association of the name with “breasts” suggests the name might mean “the one of the breast” [i.e., the one who gives fertility], but the juxtaposition is probably better explained as wordplay. Note the wordplay involving the name and the root שָׁדַד, shadad, “destroy”] in Isa 13:6 and in Joel 1:15.) Outside Genesis the name Shaddai (minus the element “El” [“God”]) is normally used when God is viewed as the sovereign king who blesses/protects or curses/brings judgment. The name appears in the introduction to two of Balaam’s oracles (Num 24:4, 16) of blessing upon Israel. Naomi employs the name when accusing the Lord of treating her bitterly by taking the lives of her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20-21). In Ps 68:14; Isa 13:6; and Joel 1:15 Shaddai judges his enemies through warfare, while Ps 91:1 depicts him as the protector of his people. (In Ezek 1:24 and 10:5 the sound of the cherubs’ wings is compared to Shaddai’s powerful voice. The reference may be to the mighty divine warrior’s battle cry which accompanies his angry judgment.) Finally, the name occurs 31 times in the Book of Job. Job and his “friends” assume that Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world (11:7; 37:23a) who is the source of life (33:4b) and is responsible for maintaining justice (8:3; 34:10-12; 37:23b). He provides abundant blessings, including children (22:17-18; 29:4-6), but he can also discipline, punish, and destroy (5:17; 6:4; 21:20; 23:16). It is not surprising to see the name so often in this book, where the theme of God’s justice is primary and even called into question (24:1; 27:2). The most likely proposal is that the name means “God, the one of the mountain” (an Akkadian cognate means “mountain,” to which the Hebrew שַׁד, shad, “breast”] is probably related). For a discussion of proposed derivations see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 70-71. The name may originally have depicted God as the sovereign judge who, in Canaanite style, ruled from a sacred mountain. Isa 14:13 and Ezek 28:14, 16 associate such a mountain with God, while Ps 48:2 refers to Zion as “Zaphon,” the Canaanite Olympus from which the high god El ruled. (In Isa 14 the Canaanite god El may be in view. Note that Isaiah pictures pagan kings as taunting the king of Babylon, suggesting that pagan mythology may provide the background for the language and imagery.)

[17:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”

[17:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “in my presence.”

[17:1]  ²⁹ tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the Lord, then the second imperative is likely sequential. (2) But if it has a positive moral connotation (“serve me faithfully”), then the second imperative probably indicates purpose (or result). For other uses of the idiom see 1 Sam 2:30, 35 and 12:2 (where it occurs twice).

[17:2]  ³⁰ tn Following the imperative, the cohortative indicates consequence. If Abram is blameless, then the Lord will ratify the covenant. Earlier the Lord ratified part of his promise to Abram (see Gen 15:18-21), guaranteeing him that his descendants would live in the land. But the expanded form of the promise, which includes numerous descendants and eternal possession of the land, remains to be ratified. This expanded form of the promise is in view here (see vv. 2b, 4-8). See the note at Gen 15:18 and R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

[17:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will multiply you exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:3]  ³² tn Heb “And Abram fell on his face.” This expression probably means that Abram sank to his knees and put his forehead to the ground, although it is possible that he completely prostrated himself. In either case the posture indicates humility and reverence.

[17:3]  ³³ tn Heb “God spoke to him, saying.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I.”

[17:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “is” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[17:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “will your name be called.”

[17:5]  ³⁷ sn Your name will be Abraham. The renaming of Abram was a sign of confirmation to the patriarch. Every time the name was used it would be a reminder of God’s promise. “Abram” means “exalted father,” probably referring to Abram’s father Terah. The name looks to the past; Abram came from noble lineage. The name “Abraham” is a dialectical variant of the name Abram. But its significance is in the wordplay with אַב־הֲמוֹן (’av-hamon, “the father of a multitude,” which sounds like אַבְרָהָם, ’avraham, “Abraham”). The new name would be a reminder of God’s intention to make Abraham the father of a multitude. For a general discussion of renaming, see O. Eissfeldt, “Renaming in the Old Testament,” Words and Meanings, 70-83.

[17:5]  ³⁸ tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.

[17:6]  ³⁹ tn This verb starts a series of perfect verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive to express God’s intentions.

[17:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and I will make you into nations, and kings will come out from you.”

[17:7]  ⁴² tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).

[17:7]  ⁴³ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:7]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”

[17:8]  ⁴⁵ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

[17:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:9]  ⁴⁷ tn The imperfect tense could be translated “you shall keep” as a binding command; but the obligatory nuance (“must”) captures the binding sense better.

[17:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “my covenant.” The Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) can refer to (1) the agreement itself between two parties (see v. 7), (2) the promise made by one party to another (see vv. 2-3, 7), (3) an obligation placed by one party on another, or (4) a reminder of the agreement. In vv. 9-10 the word refers to a covenantal obligation which God gives to Abraham and his descendants.

[17:10]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “This is my covenant that you must keep between me and you and your descendants after you.”

[17:10]  ⁵⁰ sn For a discussion of male circumcision as the sign of the covenant in this passage see M. V. Fox, “The Sign of the Covenant: Circumcision in the Light of the Priestly ‘ot Etiologies,” RB 81 (1974): 557-96.

[17:11]  ⁵¹ tn Or “sign.”

[17:12]  ⁵² tn Heb “the son of eight days.”

[17:13]  ⁵³ tn The emphatic construction employs the Niphal imperfect tense (collective singular) and the Niphal infinitive.

[17:13]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “my covenant.” Here in v. 13 the Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) refers to the outward, visible sign, or reminder, of the covenant. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[17:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “an eternal.”

[17:14]  ⁵⁶ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

[17:14]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:14]  sn The meaning of “cut off” has been discussed at great length. An entire tractate in the Mishnah is devoted to this subject (tractate Keritot). Being ostracized from the community is involved at the least, but it is not certain whether this refers to the death penalty.

[17:14]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[17:15]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “[As for] Sarai your wife, you must not call her name Sarai, for Sarah [will be] her name.”

[17:15]  ⁶⁰ sn Sarah. The name change seems to be a dialectical variation, both spellings meaning “princess” or “queen.” Like the name Abram, the name Sarai symbolized the past. The new name Sarah, like the name Abraham, would be a reminder of what God intended to do for Sarah in the future.

[17:16]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “she will become nations.”

[17:16]  ⁶² tn Heb “peoples.”

[17:17]  ⁶³ sn Laughed. The Hebrew verb used here provides the basis for the naming of Isaac: “And he laughed” is וַיִּצְחָק (vayyitskhaq); the name “Isaac” is יִצְחָק (yitskhaq), “he laughs.” Abraham’s (and Sarah’s, see 18:12) laughter signals disbelief, but when the boy is born, the laughter signals surprise and joy.

[17:17]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “And he fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart.”

[17:17]  ⁶⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form here carries a potential nuance, as it expresses the disbelief of Abraham.

[17:17]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “to the son of a hundred years.”

[17:17]  ⁶⁷ sn It is important to note that even though Abraham staggers at the announcement of the birth of a son, finding it almost too incredible, he nonetheless calls his wife Sarah, the new name given to remind him of the promise of God (v. 15).

[17:17]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “the daughter of ninety years.”

[17:18]  ⁶⁹ tn The wish is introduced with the Hebrew particle לוּ (lu), “O that.”

[17:18]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “live with your blessing.”

[17:19]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

[17:19]  ⁷² tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:20]  ⁷³ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

[17:20]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:20]  ⁷⁵ tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

[17:22]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “And when he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.” The sequence of pronouns and proper names has been modified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:22]  sn God went up from him. The text draws attention to God’s dramatic exit and in so doing brings full closure to the scene.

[17:23]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “Ishmael his son and all born in his house and all bought with money, every male among the men of the house of Abraham.”

[17:23]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.

[17:24]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”

[17:24]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin” (also in v. 25).

[17:25]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “the son of thirteen years.”

[24:7]  ⁸² tn Or “the land of my birth.”

[24:7]  ⁸³ tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

[24:7]  ⁸⁴ tn Or “his messenger.”

[24:7]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “before you and you will take.”