---
title: "Genesis 17 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/genesis/17/
description: "The Covenant of circumcision. Genesis 17 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Genesis 17

Genesis 17 is chapter 17 of 50 in the Book of Genesis. Here are all 27 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The Covenant of circumcision.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Genesis 17 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. In truth, after he began to be ninety-nine years of age, the Lord appeared to him. And he said to him: “I am the Almighty God. Walk in my sight and become complete.
2. And I will set my covenant between me and you. And I will multiply you very exceedingly.”
3. Abram fell prone on his face.
4. And God said to him: “I AM, and my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of many nations.
5. No longer will your name be called Abram. But you will be called Abraham, for I have established you as the father of many nations.
6. And I will cause you to increase very greatly, and I will set you among the nations, and kings will come forth from you.
7. And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and with your offspring after you in their generations, by a perpetual covenant: to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
8. And I will give to you and to your offspring, the land of your sojourn, all the land of Canaan, as an eternal possession, and I will be their God.”
9. Again God said to Abraham: “And you therefore shall keep my covenant, and your offspring after you in their generations.
10. This is my covenant, which you shall observe, between me and you, and your offspring after you: All the males among you shall be circumcised.
11. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, so that it may be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12. An infant of eight days will be circumcised among you, every male in your generations. So also servants born to you, as well as those bought, shall be circumcised, even those who are not of your stock.
13. And my covenant shall be with your flesh as an eternal covenant.
14. The male, the flesh of whose foreskin will not be circumcised, that soul shall be eliminated from his people. For he has made my covenant void.”
15. God said also to Abraham: “Your wife Sarai, you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah.
16. And I will bless her, and from her I will give you a son, whom I will bless, and he will be among the nations, and the kings of the peoples will rise from him.”
17. Abraham fell on his face, and he laughed, saying in his heart: “Do you think a son can be born to a one hundred year old man? And will Sarah give birth at the age of ninety?”
18. And he said to God, “If only Ishmael would live in your sight.”
19. And God said to Abraham: “Your wife Sarah shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant, and with his offspring after him.
20. Likewise, concerning Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless and enlarge him, and I will multiply him greatly. He will produce twelve leaders, and I will make him into a great nation.
21. Yet in truth, I will establish my covenant with Isaac, to whom Sarah will give birth for you at this time next year.”
22. And when he had finished speaking with him, God ascended from Abraham.
23. Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, and all who were born in his house, and all whom he had bought, every male among the men of his house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin promptly, the very same day, just as God had instructed him.
24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.
25. And his son Ishmael had completed thirteen years at the time of his circumcision.
26. On the very same day, Abraham was circumcised with his son Ishmael.
27. And all the men of his house, those born in his house, as well as those who were bought, even the foreigners, were circumcised with him.

## Genesis 17 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Postquam vero nonaginta et novem annorum esse cœperat, apparuit ei Dominus, dixitque ad eum: Ego Deus omnipotens: ambula coram me, et esto perfectus.
2. Ponamque fœdus meum inter me et te, et multiplicabo te vehementer nimis.
3. Cecidit Abram pronus in faciem.
4. Dixitque ei Deus: Ego sum, et pactum meum tecum, erisque pater multarum gentium.
5. Nec ultra vocabitur nomen tuum Abram, sed appellaberis Abraham: quia patrem multarum gentium constitui te.
6. Faciamque te crescere vehementissime, et ponam te in gentibus, regesque ex te egredientur.
7. Et statuam pactum meum inter me et te, et inter semen tuum post te in generationibus suis, fœdere sempiterno: ut sim Deus tuus, et seminis tui post te.
8. Daboque tibi et semini tuo terram peregrinationis tuæ, omnem terram Chanaan in possessionem æternam, eroque Deus eorum.
9. Dixit iterum Deus ad Abraham: Et tu ergo custodies pactum meum, et semen tuum post te in generationibus suis.
10. Hoc est pactum meum quod observabitis inter me et vos, et semen tuum post te: circumcidetur ex vobis omne masculinum:
11. et circumcidetis carnem præputii vestri, ut sit in signum fœderis inter me et vos.
12. Infans octo dierum circumcidetur in vobis, omne masculinum in generationibus vestris: tam vernaculus, quam emptitius circumcidetur, et quicumque non fuerit de stirpe vestra:
13. eritque pactum meum in carne vestra in fœdus æternum.
14. Masculus, cujus præputii caro circumcisa non fuerit, delebitur anima illa de populo suo: quia pactum meum irritum fecit.
15. Dixit quoque Deus ad Abraham: Sarai uxorem tuam non vocabis Sarai, sed Saram.
16. Et benedicam ei, et ex illa dabo tibi filium cui benedicturus sum: eritque in nationes, et reges populorum orientur ex eo.
17. Cecidit Abraham in faciem suam, et risit, dicens in corde suo: Putasne centenario nascetur filius? et Sara nonagenaria pariet?
18. Dixitque ad Deum: Utinam Ismaël vivat coram te.
19. Et ait Deus ad Abraham: Sara uxor tua pariet tibi filium, vocabisque nomen ejus Isaac, et constituam pactum meum illi in fœdus sempiternum, et semini ejus post eum.
20. Super Ismaël quoque exaudivi te: ecce, benedicam ei, et augebo, et multiplicabo eum valde: duodecim duces generabit, et faciam illum in gentem magnam.
21. Pactum vero meum statuam ad Isaac, quem pariet tibi Sara tempore isto in anno altero.
22. Cumque finitus esset sermo loquentis cum eo, ascendit Deus ab Abraham.
23. Tulit autem Abraham Ismaël filium suum, et omnes vernaculos domus suæ, universosque quos emerat, cunctos mares ex omnibus viris domus suæ: et circumcidit carnem præputii eorum statim in ipsa die, sicut præceperat ei Deus.
24. Abraham nonaginta et novem erat annorum quando circumcidit carnem præputii sui.
25. Et Ismaël filius tredecim annos impleverat tempore circumcisionis suæ.
26. Eadem die circumcisus est Abraham et Ismaël filius ejus:
27. et omnes viri domus illius, tam vernaculi, quam emptitii et alienigenæ pariter circumcisi sunt.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 2571: In the Old Testament ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1819: The Theological Virtues ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 59: The Stages of Revelation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 5: “Abram” … in the Hebrew, signifies a high father: but Abraham, the father of the multitude; Sarai signifies my Lady, but Sara absolutely Lady.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Thu, Mar 18, 2027: Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent — First Reading, Genesis 17:3-9
- Fri, Jun 25, 2027 (computed): Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22
- Thu, Apr 6, 2028 (computed): Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent — First Reading, Genesis 17:3-9

Citations as published in the USCCB liturgical calendar (principal Mass, first option). Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).