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.
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.
- NKJV No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall 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.
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.