Genesis 22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 22
The Testing of Abraham.[a] 1 Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test and said to him: Abraham! “Here I am!” he replied.(A) 2 Then God said: Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.(B) 3 Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac, and after cutting the wood for the burnt offering, set out for the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over there. We will worship and then come back to you.” 6 So Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two walked on together, 7 Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. “Father!” he said. “Here I am,” he replied. Isaac continued, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “My son,” Abraham answered, “God will provide the sheep for the burnt offering.” Then the two walked on together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he bound[b] his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.(C) 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.(D) 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. 12 “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the angel. “Do not do the least thing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you did not withhold from me your son, your only one.”(E) 13 Abraham looked up and saw a single ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son.[c] 14 Abraham named that place Yahweh-yireh;[d] hence people today say, “On the mountain the Lord will provide.”
15 [e]A second time the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven 16 (F)and said: “I swear by my very self—oracle of the Lord—that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your son, your only one, 17 I will bless you and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies,(G) 18 and in your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you obeyed my command.”(H)
19 Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham lived.
Nahor’s Descendants.[f] 20 Some time afterward, the news came to Abraham: “Milcah too has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Footnotes
- 22:1–19 The divine demand that Abraham sacrifice to God the son of promise is the greatest of his trials; after the successful completion of the test, he has only to buy a burial site for Sarah and find a wife for Isaac. The story is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, depicting in a few lines God as the absolute Lord, inscrutable yet ultimately gracious, and Abraham, acting in moral grandeur as the great ancestor of Israel. Abraham speaks simply, with none of the wordy evasions of chaps. 13 and 21. The style is laconic; motivations and thoughts are not explained, and the reader cannot but wonder at the scene. In vv. 15–18, the angel repeats the seventh and climactic promise. Moriah: the mountain is not given a precise geographical location here, though 2 Chr 3:1 identifies Moriah as the mountain of Jerusalem where Solomon built the Temple; Abraham is thus the first to worship there. The word “Moriah” is a play on the verb “to see” (Heb. ra’ah); the wordplay is continued in v. 8, “God will provide (lit., “see”)” and in v. 14, Yahweh-yireh, meaning “the Lord will see/provide.”
- 22:9 Bound: the Hebrew verb is ‘aqad, from which is derived the noun Akedah, “the binding (of Isaac),” the traditional Jewish name for this incident.
- 22:13 While the Bible recognizes that firstborn males belong to God (Ex 13:11–16; 34:19–20), and provides an alternate sacrifice to redeem firstborn sons, the focus here is on Abraham’s being tested by God (v. 1). But the widely attested practice of child sacrifice underscores, for all its horror today, the realism of the test.
- 22:14 Yahweh-yireh: a Hebrew expression meaning “the Lord will see/provide.” See note on vv. 1–19.
- 22:15–19 The seventh and climactic statement of the blessings to Abraham. Unlike the other statements, which were purely promissory, this one is presented as a reward for Abraham’s extraordinary trust.
- 22:20–24 The descendants to the second generation of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, who married Milcah. Of Terah’s three sons (11:27), the oldest, Abraham, fathered Isaac (21:1–7), and the youngest, Haran (who died in Ur), fathered Lot. Abraham is now told that Nahor had eight children by Milcah and four by his concubine Reumah. Apart from the notice about the children born to Abraham by his second wife, Keturah (25:1–6), all the information about Terah’s family to the second generation is now complete. It is noteworthy that Jacob will, like Nahor, have eight children by his wives and four by his concubines.
Genesis 22
International Standard Version
The Command to Offer Isaac
22 Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He called out to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
2 God[a] said, “Please take your son, your unique son whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you.”
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his male servants[b] with him, along with his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out to go to the place about which God had spoken to him. 4 On the third day he looked ahead and saw the place from a distance.
5 Abraham ordered his two servants,[c] “Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we’ll go up there, we’ll worship, and then we’ll return to you.” 6 Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. Abraham[d] carried the fire and the knife. And so the two of them went on together.
Abraham Answers Isaac’s Question
7 Isaac addressed his father Abraham: “My father!”
“I’m here, my son,” Abraham replied.
Isaac asked, “The fire and the wood are here, but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God will provide[e] himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
The two of them went on together 9 and came to the place about which God had spoken. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood, tied up his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then he stretched out his hand and grabbed the knife to slaughter his son.
The Angel of the Lord Intervenes
11 Just then, an angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
12 “Don’t lay your hand on the youth!” he said. “Don’t do anything to him, because I’ve just demonstrated[f] that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and behind him to see a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went over, grabbed the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named that place, “The Lord Will Provide,”[g] as it is told this day, “On the Lord’s mountain, he will provide.”[h]
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “I have taken an oath to swear by myself,” declares the Lord, “that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique[i] son, 17 I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates[j] of their enemies. 18 Furthermore, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed,[k] because you have obeyed my command.”
19 After this, Abraham returned to his servants[l] and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham settled.
Nahor’s Children
20 Now after these things somebody told Abraham, “Look, Milcah has given birth to sons for your brother Nahor. 21 Uz is his firstborn, Buz is his brother, and Kemuel is the father of Aram, 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24 Also, his concubine Reumah gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Footnotes
- Genesis 22:2 Lit. He
- Genesis 22:3 Or young men
- Genesis 22:5 Or young men
- Genesis 22:6 Lit. He
- Genesis 22:8 Or will see to
- Genesis 22:12 Lit. because now I know
- Genesis 22:14 Or Will See To It
- Genesis 22:14 Or will see to it
- Genesis 22:16 Or only
- Genesis 22:17 I.e. the centers of power in their cities
- Genesis 22:18 Or gain blessing for themselves
- Genesis 22:19 Or young men
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