6:1 Now these are the commandments, ¹  statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed ²  6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ³  that I am giving ⁴  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days. 6:3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number ⁵  – as the Lord, God of your ancestors, ⁶  said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁷  6:5 You must love ⁸  the Lord your God with your whole mind, ⁹  your whole being, ¹⁰  and all your strength. ¹¹ 

6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach ¹²  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ¹³  as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm ¹⁴  and fasten them as symbols ¹⁵  on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. ¹⁶ 

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill, 6:12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. ¹⁷  6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name. 6:14 You must not go after other gods, those ¹⁸  of the surrounding peoples, 6:15 for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land. ¹⁹ 

6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. ²⁰  6:17 Keep his ²¹  commandments very carefully, ²²  as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper ²³  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ²⁴  promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.

6:20 When your children ²⁵  ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, ²⁶  “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. ²⁷  6:22 And he ²⁸  brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family ²⁹  before our very eyes. 6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors. 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him ³⁰  so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day. 6:25 We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments ³¹  before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” ³² 

17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, ¹  the Lord appeared to him and said, ²  “I am the sovereign God. ³  Walk ⁴  before me ⁵  and be blameless. ⁶  17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant ⁷  between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” ⁸ 

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ⁹  and God said to him, ¹⁰  17:4 “As for me, ¹¹  this ¹²  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 No longer will your name be ¹³  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ¹⁴  because I will make you ¹⁵  the father of a multitude of nations. 17:6 I will make you ¹⁶  extremely ¹⁷  fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. ¹⁸  17:7 I will confirm ¹⁹  my covenant as a perpetual ²⁰  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. ²¹  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ²²  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ²³  possession. I will be their God.”

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ²⁴  the covenantal requirement ²⁵  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: ²⁶  Every male among you must be circumcised. ²⁷  17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder ²⁸  of the covenant between me and you. 17:12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old ²⁹  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, ³⁰  whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant ³¹  will be visible in your flesh as a permanent ³²  reminder. 17:14 Any uncircumcised male ³³  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ³⁴  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ³⁵ 

17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; ³⁶  Sarah ³⁷  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. ³⁸  Kings of countries ³⁹  will come from her!”

17:17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed ⁴⁰  as he said to himself, ⁴¹  “Can ⁴²  a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? ⁴³  Can Sarah ⁴⁴  bear a child at the age of ninety?” ⁴⁵  17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ⁴⁶  Ishmael might live before you!” ⁴⁷ 

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ⁴⁸  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ⁴⁹  covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ⁵⁰  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ⁵¹  He will become the father of twelve princes; ⁵²  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. ⁵³ 

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ⁵⁴  and circumcised them ⁵⁵  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 17:24 Now Abraham was 99 years old ⁵⁶  when he was circumcised; ⁵⁷  17:25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old ⁵⁸  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.