Another interpretation (of Gen. 17:1): WHEN ABRAHAM WAS NINETY -NINE YEARS OLD. The Holy One said to him: When I had created my world, I was patient with you for twenty generations¹⁰⁴. 50a, according to which a parent must be patient with a son until the age of twelve. until you would come and receive circumcision. So now, if you do not accept circumcision , it is enough for me that the world has existed until now; and I am returning it to being void and without form.¹⁰⁵ It is unnecessary for me that the world exist any longer. He therefore said (in Gen. 17:1): I AM GOD ALMIGHTY (ShDY). I have had enough (DY), O world. But if you accept circumcision for yourself, we are enough for the world, just I and you.

footnotes: ¹⁰⁴ Cf. Ket ¹⁰⁵ Gen. R. 46:3.

(Gen. 17:2:)AND LET ME PUT MY COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND YOU. Abram said to him: And who will circumcise me?¹⁰⁶ He said to him: You yourself. Abraham took the knife and took hold of his foreskin, but he was afraid; because he was old, he was shaking. He said to him: Sovereign of the world, I am an old man. What did the Holy One do, as it were? He stretched out his hand and took hold along with him.¹⁰⁷ So Abraham cut away until he had performed circumcision. Thus Ezra gives praise and says (in Neh. 9:6, 8): YOU ALONE ARE THE LORD … AND YOU FOUND HIS HEART FAITHFUL BEFORE YOU, AND CUT THE COVENANT ALONG WITH HIM . "And cut the covenant for him" is not written here, but AND CUT THE COVENANT ALONG WITH HIM. Then there is written at the end of the verse: AND YOU HAVE KEPT YOUR WORDS BECAUSE YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS.

footnotes: ¹⁰⁶ Gen. R. 49:2 (but not in the Theodor edition). ¹⁰⁷ Cant. R. 4:6:1.

Another interpretation: Why did he circumcise at the age of ninety-nine?¹⁰⁸., Gen. 3:17; cf. Gen. R. 46:2. In order to teach proselytes that if a proselyte wants to become a Jew, he should not say: I am an old man. At this stage I am not becoming a Jew. Let him learn from Abraham, who performed circumcision when he was ninety-nine years old.

footnotes: ¹⁰⁸ Tanh