"...And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Genesis 12:2-3
The Lord established a covenant with Abram to give him innumerable offspring and the land from the river of Egypt as far as the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites. Though he had no children and a member of his house was his heir, his heir would come from his own body by Sarah. He established circumcision in the flesh of the foreskin of every male, born and 8 days old or purchased, a sign of the covenant.
Though the nations were split at Babel, in Abram, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Story
The Lord shows Abram the land He'll give his offspring
The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” When Abram came through Canaan to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." On his journey, Abram built two altars to the Lord. (Genesis 12:1-9)
The Lord promises an heir and countless descendants to Abram then reveals his nation's future
After Abram was blessed by Melchizedek, the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Do not fear, Abram, / I am a shield to you; / Your reward shall be very great.” Abram replied that he had no heir but Eliezer of Damascus. Then the Lord told him, "This man will not be your heir; but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. ... So shall your descendants be.” Abram believed Him, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
And He said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” Abram asked, “Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Abram obeyed and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. He also drove away the birds of prey as they came down upon the carcasses.
A deep sleep, terror, and great darkness fell upon Abram. Then God told Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the wrongdoing of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
Then when the sun had set, it was very dark, and a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the offered pieces. The Lord made a covenant with Abram that day, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, / From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: / the land of the Kenite, the Kenizzite, the Kadmonite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.”
God Almighty renames Abram to Abraham
When Abram was 99, the Lord appeared to him, and He said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 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. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
God establishes circumcision as the sign of the covenant
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
God renames Sarah
He renamed Sarah and promised him an heir by her. "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”
God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”
Abraham is circumcised
God went up from Abraham, and Abraham circumcised every male in his household. Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised, and Ishmael was 13.
Isaac is circumcised
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. (Genesis 21)