“No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.”
Genesis 17:5
At age seventy-five, God promised Abram he would be the father of “a great nation” and his descendants would possess Canaan (Genesis 12:2, 7). In Genesis 13:15–16, God elaborated on these two promises. Responding to his doubts, God assured Abram that his heir would come from his own body (15:3–5). God then incorporated these two promises into the Abrahamic covenant: “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram” (v. 18).
This is the first time the word covenant was used of God’s promises to Abram. Thirteen years later, He enlarged the posterity blessing, making Abram “the father of many nations” and changing his name from Abram to Abraham (17:4–5).
Note: excerpt from ODB
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