God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
Parallel translations
- WEB God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
- KJV And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
- BSB God also said to Abraham, “You must keep My covenant—you and your descendants in the generations after you.
- NKJV And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
- NLT Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
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 called Abraham and his descendants to keep the covenant. The covenant of grace summons a faithful, obedient response.
Overview
Having stated His promises, God now calls Abraham to his covenant responsibility, introducing the sign of circumcision. This is not earning the covenant but living faithfully within it. The pattern of promise followed by obligation shows that God's grace calls forth obedience, a principle carried into the New Testament life of faith working through love.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Isa 56:4–5For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant:
- Ps 103:18to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.
- Ps 25:10All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
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 17:9 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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