Genesis 17:23

Abraham obeyed God. (See verse 10 and the comment on verses 10-12.) Every man must be *circumcised. That was a sign that there was a firm agreement between God and the man. It was only a sign. It did not bring a man to God. To come close to God, a man must put his trust in him. He must believe. Genesis tells us, ‘Abram believed the *Lord. Therefore the *Lord considered that Abram was *righteous (right with God).’ (See Genesis 15:6.)

Lord ~ a lord is a person who has authority. ‘The Lord’ means God. It is a translation of God’s name. The Hebrews wrote God’s name as YHWH. We may write it as Yahweh.

Hebrew ~ the Hebrew people were Abraham and his descendants. The ancient Hebrew language is the original language of Genesis. It is also the original language of most of the Old Testament (the first part of the Bible). This language is like the modern Hebrew language, which people speak in the country Israel today.

descendants ~ children and grandchildren and later members of the family.
descendants ~ children and grandchildren and later members of the family.
Canaan ~ the country where the Canaanites lived. (See Canaanites.) It is approximately the same land as the modern country Israel together with the land of the Palestinians.

Canaanites ~ Canaan’s descendants. Canaan was a grandson of Noah. (see Genesis 9:18.) The word Canaanites included Amorites and Hivites and other nations. (see Genesis 10:16-17.) It sometimes also included other people who lived in the country Canaan. These people were not descendants of Canaan.

descendants ~ children and grandchildren and later members of the family.
righteous ~ to be right with God; people whom God sees as clean and not his enemies; people who do what is right; just, good.
circumcised ~ without the skin on the end of his sex part. (See circumcise.)

circumcise ~ to cut the skin from the end of a male person’s sex part. (see Genesis 17:10-12 and the comment.)
circumcise ~ to cut the skin from the end of a male person’s sex part. (see Genesis 17:10-12 and the comment.)