Genesis 17:2-5

17:2 Then I will confirm my covenant ¹  between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” ² 

17:3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, ³  and God said to him, ⁴  17:4 “As for me, ⁵  this ⁶  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 17:5 No longer will your name be ⁷  Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham ⁸  because I will make you ⁹  the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 17:7-8

17:7 I will confirm ¹⁰  my covenant as a perpetual ¹¹  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. ¹²  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹³  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹⁴  possession. I will be their God.”

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¹ 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.

² tn Heb “I will multiply you exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “God spoke to him, saying.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Heb “I.”

⁶ tn Heb “is” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

⁷ tn Heb “will your name be called.”

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn The perfect verbal form is used here in a rhetorical manner to emphasize God’s intention.

¹⁰ 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).

¹¹ tn Or “as an eternal.”

¹² tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”

¹³ 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.

¹⁴ tn Or “as an eternal.”