No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
- KJV 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.
- BSB No longer will you be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
- NASB “No longer shall you be named Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.
- NLT What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.
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
God changed Abram's name to Abraham, father of a multitude. The new name embodied the enlarged promise.
Overview
God renames Abram, high father, as Abraham, father of a multitude, sealing the promise in his very identity. Name changes in Scripture often mark a new calling or covenant role. Abraham becomes the father of many nations, a title Paul applies to all who share his faith, foreshadowing the gathering of the nations into God's people through the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 1:21–23She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
- Neh 9:7You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham,
- Rom 4:17As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
- Gen 17:15God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.
- Gen 32:28He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
- Rev 2:17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
- Jer 20:3On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.
- Isa 62:2–4The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory, and you will be called by a new name, which Yahweh‘s mouth will name.
- Jer 23:6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. This is his name by which he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
- 2 Sam 12:25and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh’s sake.
- Isa 65:15You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,
- John 1:42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter).
- Num 13:16These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 17:5 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.