I'm establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants.
Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old, generation after generation--this includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are not blood kin.
Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone brought in from the outside. That way my covenant will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my permanent covenant.
But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.
"And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I'll also bless him; I'll make sure he has plenty of children--a huge family. He'll father twelve princes; I'll make him a great nation.
Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether houseborn or purchased--every male in his household--and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.