In verses 9-14 God instructs Abraham concerning the practice of circumcision.

And God said to Abraham: verse 9 opens God’s third speech with general instructions regarding obedience to the covenant. God has been speaking to Abraham since Gen 17.1. Therefore it may be necessary to say “And God went on speaking” or “And God said also….”

As for you: in verse 7 the covenant is established by God “between me and you.” Then in verse 8 God promises to give the land to Abraham and his descendants. Now God speaks to Abraham regarding Abraham’s responsibilities. As for you makes you emphatic and introduces a new topic. We may translate “Your part in the covenant is this:…” or “Now here is what you must do:….” In some languages this is expressed as “On your side, ….” Two examples of how the emphasis may be brought out are “Well, you and your descendants have got to keep this promise too” and “You [plural] must agree to keep your side of the covenant I make with you.”

You shall keep my covenant: there are two main ways in which keep my covenant may be understood. In verse 1 Abraham was instructed to “walk before me [obey me] and be blameless.” On the other hand, God requires in verse 10 that Abraham and his descendants be circumcised as a sign of the covenant. Consequently, keeping the covenant is best taken in this context as obeying the requirement that Abraham and all the males of his camp be circumcised. This interpretation is strengthened in verse 14, where failure to follow God’s instructions regarding circumcision is said to result in a broken covenant.

Good News Translation “keep the covenant with me” must often be expressed as, for example, “keep the requirements,” “follow the instructions,” “obey the conditions” of the covenant. At least one translation has brought forward to this point the statement that circumcision is the sign of the covenant: “And you [plural] must observe this sign of my covenant. You must cut….”

Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch may be instructive for translators in that this version has combined verses 9-10 to say “My covenant with you and your descendants includes a duty that you and your descendants for all generations must perform: all of your males must be circumcised.” In this way the keeping (performing) of the duty or obligation now imposed on Abraham is clearly related to circumcision. Translators who must make some adaptations when expressing keep my covenant may find Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch a suitable model to follow.

You and your descendants after you throughout their generations: see Gen 17.7. The narrator’s repetitions emphasize that the covenant is for Abraham and all his descendants forever. This phrase may be rendered, for example, “you and all your descendants in every generation” or “you and all your offspring, generation after generation.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .