King James Version
Genesis 17
27 verses with commentary
The Covenant of Circumcision
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. perfect: or, upright, or, sincere
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am th...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XVII.
CONFIRMATION OF THE COVENANT BY THE SACRAMENT OF CIRCUMCISION.
(1) **Abram was ninety years old and nine.**—Thirteen years, therefore, had passed by since the birth of Ishmael, who doubtless during this time had grown very dear to the childless old man, as we gather from the wish expressed in Genesis 17:18.
**I am the Almighty God.**—Heb., *El shaddai. *The word is Archaic, but there is no d...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9-21. Take me an heifer, &c.--**On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with A...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly .
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment.<br...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **I will make my covenant.**—In Genesis 15:18 the Heb. word for “make” is *cut, *and refers to the severing of the victims; here it is “give,” “place,” and implies that it was an act of grace on God’s part (comp. Note on Genesis 9:9). Abram had now waited twenty-five years after leaving Ur-Chasdim, and fourteen or fifteen years since the ratification of the solemn covenant between him and Jeho...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9-21. Take me an heifer, &c.--**On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with A...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment.<br><br>Central themes incl...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. many: Heb. multitude of nations
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Of many nations.**—This is a feeble rendering of a remarkable phrase. Literally the word signifies a confused noise like the din of a populous city. Abram is to be the father of a thronging crowd of nations. And so in Genesis 17:5.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 16 Ge 16:1-16. Bestowment of Hagar.
**1. Now, Sarai ... had a handmaid--**a female slave--one of those obtained in Egypt.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. Abraham: that is, Father of a great multitude
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Abram.**—That is, *high father.*
**Abraham **= *Father of a multitude, *“raham” being an Arabic word, perhaps current in Hebrew in ancient times. Another interpretation of Abram is that it is equivalent to Abi-aram, Father of Aram, or Syria. This too is an Arabic form, like Abimael in Genesis 10:28. By some commentators the stress is thrown upon the insertion of the letter “h,” as being the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out o...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. Sarai ... gave her to ... Abram to be his wife--**"Wife" is here used to describe an inferior, though not degrading, relation, in countries where polygamy prevails. In the case of these female slaves, who are the personal property of his lady, being purchased before her marriage or given as a special present to her, no one can become the husband's secondary wife without her mistress consent o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 17
Chapter Outline
God renews the covenant with Abram.(1-6)
Circumcision instituted.(7-14)
Sarai's name changed, Isaac promised.(15-22)
Abraham and his family are circumcised.(23-27)
**Verses 1-6**
The covenant was to be accomplished in due time. The promised Seed was Christ, and Christians in him. And all who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abram, being pa...
Read full commentary →And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations fo...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. wherein: Heb. of thy sojournings
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. And Sarai said ... My wrong be upon thee--**Bursts of temper, or blows, as the original may bear, took place till at length Hagar, perceiving the hopelessness of maintaining the unequal strife, resolved to escape from what had become to her in reality, as well as in name, a house of bondage.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in t...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man chil...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **Shall be circumcised.**—It is stated by Herodotus (Book ii. 104) that the Egyptians were circumcised, and that the Syrians in Palestine confessed that they learned this practice from the Egyptians. Origen, however, seems to limit circumcision to the priesthood (Epist. ad Rom., § ii. 13); and the statement of Herodotus is not only very loose, but his date is too far posterior to the time of ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain--**This well, pointed out by tradition, lay on the side of the caravan road, in the midst of Shur, a sandy desert on the west of Arabia-Petræa, to the extent of a hundred fifty miles, between Palestine and Egypt. By taking that direction, she seems to have intended to return to her relatives in that country. Nothing but pride, passion, and sul...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt ...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger , which is not of thy seed. he that is eight: Heb. a son of eight days
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, h...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Eight days old.**—That is, just one week after birth, as the day of birth was counted among the eight days.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
View commentary (3 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and m...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **He that is born in thy house . . . —**Two things follow from this wide extension of the rite of circumcision: the first, that all members of Abram’s household, being thus sharers in the covenant, were also numbered as belonging to the nations that sprang from him. We have seen that even in early days his followers must have numbered six or seven hundred men (Genesis 14:14), and they were gr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be c...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Shall be cut off from his people.**—Jewish commentators generally consider that this penalty consisted in the offender being left to the direct interposition of God, who would punish him with childlessness and premature death (*Talmud: Tract Yebam, *55). Most Christian commentators suppose that the offender was to be put to death by the civil magistrate; but this view is untenable. For a di...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**11. Ishmael--**Like other Hebrew names, this had a signification, and it is made up of two words--"God hears." The reason is explained.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 7-14**
The covenant of grace is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. The token of the covenant was circumcision. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep. Those who will have the Lord to be to them a God, must resolve to be to him a people. Not only Abraham and Isaac, and his posterity by Isaac, were to be...
Read full commentary →The Promise of Isaac
And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. Sarah: that is Princess
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shal...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Sarai.**—Probably *princely, *an adjective of the same form as *shaddai, *Genesis 17:1; while *Sarah *means *princess. *The change of name shows that she was admitted to the covenant. (Comp. Genesis 17:10.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**12. he will be a wild man--**literally, "a wild ass man," expressing how the wildness of Ishmael and his descendants resembles that of the wild ass.
**his hand will be against every man--**descriptive of the rude, turbulent, and plundering character of the Arabs.
**dwell in the presence of all his brethren--**dwell, that is, pitch tents; and the meaning is that they maintain their independen...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. she: Heb. she shall become nations
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mot...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **A son **. . . **of her.**—This is the first place where it was definitely promised that Abram’s heir should be Sarah’s own son. This must be remembered in estimating the conduct of Abram and Sarah in the matter of Hagar. They had long waited, and hoped, before taking measures of their own for the fulfilment of the promise. The rest of the verse should be translated, “she shall become (grow ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. called the name--**common in ancient times to name places from circumstances; and the name given to this well was a grateful recognition of God's gracious appearance in the hour of Hagar's distress.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him ...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Abraham . . . laughed.**—The Jewish interpreters regard Abraham’s laugh as one of joy, and Sarah’s (Genesis 18:12) as one of unbelief. We may, however, well doubt whether there really was this difference between them; but our Lord confirms the View that joy was uppermost in Abraham’s heart (John 8:56). Still with belief there was surprise, and the feeling that what was promised was so stran...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment.<br><br>Central themes...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **O that** **Ishmael . . . —**For thirteen years Ishmael had been the “son of the house” (Genesis 15:3), and regarded probably as the true heir. Mingled then with Abraham’s joy there was also the pain, natural to a father, of knowing that this transference of the promise to Sarah’s child meant the deposition and disappointment of one who for so long had held the post of honour. Stoicism would...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Indeed.**—In the Hebrew this word comes first, and is intended to remove all doubt or desire for any other turn of affairs. It should be rendered, “And God said, For a certainty Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son.”
**Thou shalt call his name Isaac.**—That is, *he laughs. *The name was to be a perpetual memorial that Isaac’s birth was naturally such an impossibility as to excite ridicule.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly ; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
View commentary (2 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and w...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in th...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 17 Ge 17:1-27. Renewal of the Covenant.
**1. Abram ... ninety years old and nine--**thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael [Ge 16:16]. During that interval he had enjoyed the comforts of communion with God but had been favored with no special revelation as formerly, probably on account of his hasty and blameable marriage with Hagar.
**the Lord appeared--**some visible manifestation o...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment.<br><br>Central themes i...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 15-22**
Here is the promise made to Abraham of a son by Sarai, in whom the promise made to him should be fulfilled. The assurance of this promise was the change of Sarai's name into Sarah. Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only; Sarah signifies a princess. The more favours God confers upon us, the more low we should be in our own eyes. Abraham s...
Read full commentary →And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. Abram fell on his face--**the attitude of profoundest reverence assumed by Eastern people. It consists in the prostrate body resting on the hands and knees, with the face bent till the forehead touches the ground. It is an expression of conscious humility and profound reverence.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 23-27**
Abraham and all his family were circumcised; so receiving the token of the covenant, and distinguishing themselves from other families that had no part nor lot in the matter. It was an implicit obedience; he did as God said unto him, and did not ask why or wherefore. He did it because God bade him. It was a speedy obedience; in the self-same day. Sincere obedience makes no del...
Read full commentary →And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise ful...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. my covenant is with thee--**Renewed mention is made of it as the foundation of the communication that follows. It is the covenant of grace made with all who believe in the Saviour.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 23-27**
Abraham and all his family were circumcised; so receiving the token of the covenant, and distinguishing themselves from other families that had no part nor lot in the matter. It was an implicit obedience; he did as God said unto him, and did not ask why or wherefore. He did it because God bade him. It was a speedy obedience; in the self-same day. Sincere obedience makes no del...
Read full commentary →And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fu...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **Ishmael. . . . was thirteen years old.**—Hence the Mohammedans defer circumcision to the thirteenth year.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. but thy name shall be Abraham--**In Eastern countries a change of name is an advertisement of some new circumstance in the history, rank, or religion of the individual who bears it. The change is made variously, by the old name being entirely dropped for the new, or by conjoining the new with the old; or sometimes only a few letters are inserted, so that the altered form may express the diffe...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 23-27**
Abraham and all his family were circumcised; so receiving the token of the covenant, and distinguishing themselves from other families that had no part nor lot in the matter. It was an implicit obedience; he did as God said unto him, and did not ask why or wherefore. He did it because God bade him. It was a speedy obedience; in the self-same day. Sincere obedience makes no del...
Read full commentary →In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son....</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise fulfillment.<br><br>Central themes...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **In the selfsame day.**—Heb., *In the bone of this day, *and so in Genesis 17:23 (see Genesis 2:23). In the circumcising of the household together with Abraham and his son we see that no impassable interval separated the Hebrew slave from his master, but that he was to share all the national and religious privileges of the freeman.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 23-27**
Abraham and all his family were circumcised; so receiving the token of the covenant, and distinguishing themselves from other families that had no part nor lot in the matter. It was an implicit obedience; he did as God said unto him, and did not ask why or wherefore. He did it because God bade him. It was a speedy obedience; in the self-same day. Sincere obedience makes no del...
Read full commentary →And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger , were circumcised with him.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumc...</strong> This passage is part of the Abrahamic narratives which shift from universal human history to God's particular covenant people. The Abraham cycle (Genesis 12-25) demonstrates God's sovereign election, covenant faithfulness, and the development of faith through testing and promise...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 23-27**
Abraham and all his family were circumcised; so receiving the token of the covenant, and distinguishing themselves from other families that had no part nor lot in the matter. It was an implicit obedience; he did as God said unto him, and did not ask why or wherefore. He did it because God bade him. It was a speedy obedience; in the self-same day. Sincere obedience makes no del...
Read full commentary →