Genesis 17:5

5 No longer will you be called Abram^[a] ; your name will be Abraham,^[b] for I have made you a father of many nations.

Genesis 17:5 in Other Translations

KJV

5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

ESV

5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham,for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

NLT

5 What’s more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations.

MSG

5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that 'I'm making you the father of many nations.'

CSB

5 Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations.

Genesis 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 17:5

Neither shall thy name be any more called Abram
Which signifies an "high father", which name he bore for many years before he was the father of anyone:

but thy name shall be Abraham:
with all addition of the letter (h) inserted into it, and makes the last syllable two, "raham": which word in the Arabic language, as Hottinger ^F7 observes, signifies "numerous" {h}; so that with this addition his name Abraham may be interpreted, the father of a numerous offspring; and with this agrees the reason of it, as follows:

for a father of many nations have I made thee;
not that he was so already in fact, but in the purpose and promise of God, ( Romans 4:17 ) ; Abraham has not only been the father of many nations, in a literal sense, as before observed, but in a mystical sense, of the whole world; that is, of all in it that believe, whether Jews or Gentiles; and so the Rabbins ^F9 interpret it: at first, they say, he was the father of Aram, and therefore his name was called Abram, but now he is the father of the whole world, and therefore called Abraham; and so Maimonides ^F11 himself says, quoting this passage,

``behold he is the father of the whole world, who are gathered under the wings of the Shechinah.''

FOOTNOTES:

F7 Smegma Oriental. p. 88.
F8 <arabic>, "numerus", "copiosus", Golius, col. 1055, 1056. Castel. col. 3537.
F9 In Massechet Biccurim, apud Galat. in Arcan. Cathol. Ver. l. 5, 13. & 9, 12. in Maimon. in Misn. ib. c. 1. sect. 4.
F11 Hilchot Biccurim, c. 4. sect. 3.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Genesis 17:5 In-Context

3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.

5 No longer will you be called Abram ; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.

6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

Cross References 2

1. ver 15; Genesis 32:28; Genesis 35:10; Genesis 37:3,13; Genesis 43:6; Genesis 46:2; 1 Kings 18:31; 2 Kings 17:34; 1 Chronicles 1:34; Nehemiah 9:7; Isaiah 48:1; S John 1:42
2. Romans 4:17*