A slave who is born in your house or who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
- KJV 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.
- BSB Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.
- NKJV He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
- NLT All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Both home-born and purchased servants must be circumcised, marking an everlasting covenant in their flesh. The sign was obligatory and enduring.
Overview
God reiterates that all males in the household bear the covenant sign, underscoring its perpetual and inclusive nature. The covenant is described as everlasting, rooted in God's unchanging faithfulness. While the physical sign belonged to the old covenant era, the everlasting covenant of grace it pointed to is fulfilled and sealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Exod 12:44but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
- Gen 37:36The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.
- Neh 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
- Gen 37:27Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him.
- Matt 18:25But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
- Gen 39:1Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites that had brought him down there.
- Exod 21:4If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
- Gen 15:3Abram said, “Behold, to me you have given no children: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir.”
- Exod 21:16“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
- Gen 14:14When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.
- Neh 5:5Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
- Exod 21:2“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 17:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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