Bible Strands
Genesis 21:4
When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Abraham circumcises his son Isaac at eight days old, acting on a prior divine command immediately after naming him and before the narrative records Abraham’s age at birth.
The words — וַיָּמָל (va.yamol) translates literally as “and he circumcised,” denoting the immediate physical execution of the covenant sign on the eighth day.
The thread — This event fulfills the covenant outlined in Genesis 17:10, is later summarized in Acts 7:8 as part of Abraham’s obedience, and aligns with the household circumcision requirement in Exodus 12:48.
Why it lands — The text records a timed, specific obedience without commentary, requiring the reader to recognize the covenant sign as a matter of immediate compliance rather than symbolic reflection.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Cross-references
- Acts 7:8 Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, and Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. And Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
- Genesis 17:10 This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.
- Exodus 12:48 If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.
- Leviticus 12:3 And on the eighth day the flesh of the boy’s foreskin is to be circumcised.
- Deuteronomy 12:32 See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.
- Luke 1:6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
- Luke 1:59 On the eighth day, when they came to circumcise the child, they were going to name him after his father Zechariah.
- Luke 2:21 When the eight days before His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He was conceived.
- John 7:22 But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.)