The Genesis of Ethics: Sex in the Nineties
Genesis
17:1
Now when Avram was ninety years and nine years old
Yhwh
was seen by Avram and said to him:
I
am God Shaddai.
Walk
in my presence! And be wholehearted!
2
I set my covenant between me and you,
I
will make you exceedingly, exceedingly many.
3
Avram fell upon his face.
God
spoke with him,
saying:
4
As for me,
here,
my covenant is with you,
so
that you will become the father of a throng of nations.
5
No longer shall your name be
called Avram,
rather shall your name be Avraham,
for I will make you Av Hamon
Goyyim/Father of a Throng of
Nations!
6
I will cause you to bear fruit exceedingly, exceedingly,
I
will make nations of you,
(yes,)
kings will go out from you!
7
I establish my covenant between me and you and your seed
after you, throughout their generations as a covenant for the ages,
to
be God to you and to your seed after you.
8
I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings,
all the land of Canaan, as a holding for the ages,
and
I will be God to them.
9
God said to Avraham:
As
for you,
you
are to keep my covenant, you and your seed after you, throughout their generations.
10
This is my covenant which you are to keep, between me and you and your seed
after you:
every
male among you shall be circumcised.
11
You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,
so
that it may serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.
12
At eight days old, every male among you shall be circumcised, throughout your
generations,
whether
house-born or bought with money from any foreigner, who is not your seed.
13
Circumcised, yes, circumcised shall be your house-born and your money-bought
(slaves),
so
that my covenant may be in your flesh as a covenant for the ages.
14
But a foreskinned male,
who
does not have the foreskin of his flesh circumcised,
that
person shall be cut off from his kinspeople—
he
has violated my covenant!
15
God said to Avraham:
As
for Sarai your wife—you shall not call her name Sarai,
for
Sara/Princess is her name!
16
I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her,
I
will bless her
so
that she becomes nations,
kings
of peoples shall come from her!
17
But Avraham fell on his face and laughed,
he
said in his heart:
To a hundred-year-old man shall there be (children) born?
Or shall ninety-year-old Sara give birth?
18
Avraham said to God:
If
only Yishmael might live in your presence!
19
God said:
Nevertheless,
Sara
your wife is to bear you a son,
you
shall call his name: Yitzhak/He Laughs.
I
will establish my covenant with him as a covenant for the ages, for his seed after
him.
20
And as for Yishmael, I hearken to you:
Here,
I will make him blessed, I will make him bear fruit, I will make him many,
exceedingly, exceedingly—
he
will beget twelve (tribal) leaders, and I will make a great
nation of him.
21
But my covenant I will establish with Yitzhak, whom Sara will bear to you at
this set-time, another year hence.
22
When he had finished speaking with Avraham,
God
went up, from beside Avraham.
23
Avraham took Yishmael his son and all those born in his house and all those
bought with his money,
all
the males among Avraham’s household people,
and
circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day,
as
God had spoken to him.
24
Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin
circumcised,
25
and Yishmael his son was thirteen years old when he had the flesh of his
foreskin circumcised.
26
On that same day
were
circumcised Avraham and Yishmael his son,
27
and all his household people, whether house-born or
money-bought from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Genesis
18:1
Now Yhwh was seen by him by the
oaks of Mamre
as
he was sitting at the entrance to his tent at the heat of the day.
2
He lifted up his eyes and saw:
here,
three men standing over against him.
When
he saw them, he ran to meet them from the entrance to his tent and bowed to the earth
3
and said:
My
lords,
pray
if I have found favor in your eyes,
pray
do not pass by your servant!
4
Pray let a little water be fetched, then wash your feet and recline under the
tree;
5
let me fetch (you) a bit of bread, that you may refresh your
hearts,
then
afterward you may pass on—
for
you have, after all, passed your servant’s way!
They
said:
Do
thus, as you have spoken.
6
Avraham hastened into his tent to Sara and said:
Make
haste! Three measures of choice flour! Knead it, make bread-cakes!
7
Avraham ran to the oxen,
he
fetched a young ox, tender and fine, and gave it to a
serving-lad, that he might hasten to make it ready;
8
then he fetched cream and milk and the young ox that he had made ready, and
placed it before them.
Now
he stood over against them under the tree while they ate.
9
They said to him:
Where
is Sara your wife?
He
said:
Here
in the tent.
Now
he said:
10
I will return, yes, return to you when time revives,
and
Sara your wife will have a son!
Now
Sara was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was
behind him.
11
And Avraham and Sara were old, advanced in days,
the
way of women had ceased for Sara.
12
Sara laughed within herself, saying:
After
I have become worn, is there to be pleasure for me? And my lord is old!
13
But Yhwh said to Avraham:
Now
why does Sara laugh and say: Shall I really give birth, now that I am old?
14
Is anything beyond Yhwh?
At
that set-time I will return to you, when time revives, and Sara will have a son.
15
Sara pretended (otherwise), saying:
No,
I did not laugh.
For
she was afraid.
But
he said:
No, indeed you laughed.
Translation: The Shocken Bible ©
Everett Fox
Shakespeare Sonnet
Sonnet CXXIX