God appeared to Abram when he was ninety-nine years old and said: "I am God Almighty. Live always in my presence and be blameless so that I may make my covenant with you and give you many descendants."

Abram bowed low, and God went on. "This is my covenant with you: you are to be the father of many nations. I shall make you exceedingly fruitful. I shall make nations out of you and kings shall spring from you. I shall maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you, generation after generation: an everlasting covenant. I shall be your God and the God of your descendants."

God also said, "I shall give you and your descendants a possession for all time: the land in which you are now an alien, the whole land of Canaan."

Then God said to Abram, "In response, you and your descendants must keep my covenant generation after generation. The way to keep my covenant is to circumcise yourself and all the males among you."