Genesis 22

The Lord Tells Abraham To Offer Isaac as a Sacrifice

1 # Ws 10.5; Si 44.20; 4 Macc 7.13,14; 13.12; He 11.17-19. Some years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him.

Abraham answered, “Here I am, Lord.”

2 # 2 Ch 3.1. The Lord said, “Go 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.” 3So Abraham got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and set out with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.

4Three days later Abraham looked off in 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 9#Jas 2.21. when 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. 10#4 Macc 16.20. He 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 instead 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:

16 # He 6.13,14. You were willing to offer your only son to the Lord, and so he makes you this solemn promise, 17#He 11.12. “I will bless you and give you such a large family, that someday your descendants will be more numerous than the stars in the sky or the grains of sand along the seashore. They will defeat their enemies and take over the cities where their enemies live. 18#Ac 3.25. You have obeyed me, and so you and your descendants will be a blessing to all nations on earth.”

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 first-born; Buz was next, and then there was Kemuel the father of Aram; their other five sons were: Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel 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.

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 22

1And it came to be after these events that Elohim tried Aḇraham, and said to him, “Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

2And He said, “Take your son, now, your only son Yitsḥaq, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriyah, and offer him there as an ascending offering on one of the mountains which I command you.”

3And Aḇraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Yitsḥaq his son. And he split the wood for the ascending offering, and arose and went to the place which Elohim had commanded him.

4And on the third day Aḇraham lifted his eyes and saw the place from a distance.

5So Aḇraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while the boy and I go over there and worship, and come back to you.”

6And Aḇraham took the wood of the ascending offering and laid it on Yitsḥaq his son. And he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

7And Yitsḥaq spoke to Aḇraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “See, the fire and the wood! But where is the lamb for an ascending offering?”

8And Aḇraham said, “My son, Elohim does provide for Himself the lamb for an ascending offering.” And the two of them went together.

9And they came to the place which Elohim had commanded him, and Aḇraham built a slaughter-place there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Yitsḥaq his son and laid him on the slaughter-place, upon the wood.

10And Aḇraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son,

11but the Messenger of יהוה called to him from the heavens and said, “Aḇraham, Aḇraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

12And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor touch him. For now I know that you fear Elohim, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

13And Aḇraham lifted his eyes and looked and saw behind him a ram caught in a bush by its horns, and Aḇraham went and took the ram and offered it up for an ascending offering instead of his son.

14And Aḇraham called the name of the place, ‘יהוה Yireh,’ as it is said to this day, “On the mountain יהוה provides.”

15And the Messenger of יהוה called to Aḇraham a second time from the heavens,

16and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares יהוה, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17that I shall certainly bless you, and I shall certainly increase your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore, and let your seed possess the gate of their enemies.

18And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.

19Then Aḇraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Be’ĕrsheḇa. And Aḇraham dwelt at Be’ĕrsheḇa.

20And it came to be after these events that it was reported to Aḇraham, saying, “See, Milkah too has borne children to your brother Naḥor:

21“Uts his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Qemu’ĕl the father of Aram,

22“and Keseḏ, and Ḥazo, and Pildash, and Yiḏlaph, and Bethu’ĕl.

23And Bethu’ĕl brought forth Riḇqah. These eight Milkah bore to Naḥor, Aḇraham’s brother.

24And his concubine, whose name was Re’uwmah, also bore Teḇaḥ, and Gaḥam, and Taḥash, and Ma‛aḵah.

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