Genesis 22
22
The LORD tells Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice
1Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him.#He 11.17-19.
Abraham answered, “Here I am, LORD.”
2The LORD said, “Go and get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on the fires of an altar.”#2 Ch 3.1. 3So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.
4Three days later Abraham looked into the distance and saw the place. 5He told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there to worship. We will come back.”
6Abraham put the wood on Isaac's shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them walked along, 7-8Isaac said, “Father, we have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
“My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the lamb.”
The two of them walked on, and 9when they reached the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and put him on the wood.#Jas 2.21. 10He then took the knife and got ready to kill his son. 11But the LORD's angel shouted from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
12“Don't hurt the boy or harm him in any way!” the angel said. “Now I know that you truly obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son.”
13Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son.
14Abraham named that place “The LORD will Provide”. And even now people say, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”#22.14 The LORD will Provide…it will be provided: Or “The LORD will be Seen…the LORD will be seen” or “It (a ram) will be Seen…it (a ram) will be seen”.
15The LORD's angel called out from heaven a second time:
16You were willing to offer the LORD your only son, and so he makes you this solemn promise,#He 6.13,14. 17“I will bless you and give you such a large family, that some day your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand along the beach. They will defeat their enemies and take over the cities where their enemies live.#He 11.12. 18You have obeyed me, and so you and your descendants will be a blessing to all nations on earth.”#Ac 3.25.
19Abraham and Isaac went back to the servants who had come with him, and they returned to Abraham's home in Beersheba.
The children of Nahor
20-23Abraham's brother Nahor had married Milcah, and Abraham was later told that they had eight sons. Uz was their firstborn; Buz was next, and then there was Kemuel who became the father of Aram; their other five sons were: Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, who became the father of Rebekah. 24Nahor also had another wife.#22.24 another wife: This translates a Hebrew word for a woman who was legally bound to a man, but without the full privileges of a wife. Her name was Reumah, and she had four sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Genesis 22
22
God Commands Abraham to Offer Isaac
1 # Heb 11.17–19 Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!”
2 # 2 Chr 3.1 “Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”
3Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about. 4On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance. 5Then he said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”
6Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together, 7Isaac said, “Father!”
He answered, “Yes, my son?”
Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
8Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.” And the two of them walked on together.
9 # Jas 2.21 When they came to the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he picked up the knife to kill him. 11But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He answered, “Yes, here I am.”
12“Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him,” he said. “Now I know that you honour and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.”
13Abraham looked round and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14Abraham named that place “The LORD Provides”.#22.14 Provides; or Sees. And even today people say, “On the LORD's mountain he provides.”#22.14 provides; or is seen.
15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, 16#Heb 6.13–14“I make a vow by my own name — the LORD is speaking — that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me, 17#Heb 11.12I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies. 18#Acts 3.25All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants — all because you obeyed my command.” 19Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.
The Descendants of Nahor
20Some time later Abraham learnt that Milcah had borne eight children to his brother Nahor: 21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel, 23Rebecca's father. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24Reumah, Nahor's concubine, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.