Genesis 17:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

NIV: No longer will you be called Abram ; 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.

CSB: Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many 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.

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.

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.

In the previous verse, God's covenant promise was that Abram would become the father of many nations. Now God changes Abram's name to match this destiny. After 23 years, and more than 4 chapters of the book of Genesis, the man called Abram will take on the famous name of Abraham (Genesis 12:4; Genesis 17:1).

In modern times, specific names are not always thought to be very important. Parents typically choose names based on how they sound or how they look in writing. The "meaning" of names, for the modern era, is almost never an important consideration. In ancient times, however, names were often given by parents to describe the lives they hoped their children would fulfill. In other cases, they were used as declarations of past events. God's change of Abram's name at the age of 99 years old was highly significant.

The name Abram, given by Abram's father Terah, means "exalted father." It was likely meant to suggest that Abram came from a royal line. This new name, Abraham, sounds similar to the Hebrew phrase meaning "father of a multitude," exactly matching God's revelation of what Abram would become.

This name change required another act of faith from Abraham. He would have asked people to call him Abraham—to refer to him as a "father of a multitude." Would he feel foolish telling people his new name, as a 99-year-old man with just one son born of a servant girl? Or would his new name increase his confidence that God's promise was reliable?

Genesis 17:1–14 describes God's appearance to a 99-year-old Abram. Again God confirms His expansive covenant promises: to make Abram a father of nations and to give to him and his offspring the land of Canaan. At this time, God even changes Abram's name to Abraham to mark the occasion. This time, though, the repetition of the promise comes with God's requirements for Abraham: walk with me, be blameless, and circumcise yourself and every male of your household from now through every generation in the future.

God appears to Abram once more in Genesis 17, but this instance is very different from prior meetings. God reconfirms His promises to make Abram a father of nations and to give to him and his descendants the land of Canaan. This time, though, God changes Abram's name to Abraham and gives him a requirement to circumcise himself and every male in his household forever. He also changes Sarai's name to Sarah. God announces that Abraham and Sarah will have a son, after all. His 13-year old son Ishmael will be blessed, but this new son, Isaac, to be born within the year, will be the one to whom God's covenant promises will pass.

Genesis 17 records the details of God's appearance to Abram, now 99. Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael to Sarah's servant Hagar, God arrives to change Abram's name to Abraham, to confirm the covenant promises, and to command Abraham. He is to circumcise every male in his household as a sign of the covenant. Then the big news: within a year, Abraham's wife—now renamed Sarah—would bear Abraham a son. This long-awaited son would be the one through whom God would keep all of His promises to Abraham.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.