Genesis
Chapter 22

1

¹ Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!" "Ready!" he replied.

2

² Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."

3

Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.

4

On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.

5

Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you."

6

Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

7

As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!" he said. "Yes, son," he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"

8

"Son," Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the sheep for the holocaust." Then the two continued going forward.

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 tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.

10

Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11

But the LORD'S messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.

12

"Do not lay your hand on the boy," said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."

13

As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

14

³ Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see."

15

Again the LORD'S messenger called to Abraham from heaven

16

and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,

17

I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies,

18

and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command.''

19

Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home.

20

⁴ Some time afterward, the news came to Abraham: "Milcah too has borne sons, to your brother Nahor:

21

Uz, his first-born, 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 Abraham's brother Nahor.

24

His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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Footnotes

¹ [1] God put Abraham to the test: to prove the firmness of Abraham's faith in God's promise that through Isaac all the nations of the earth would find blessing; cf Genesis 18:10, 18; 21:12.

² [2] Only one: uniquely precious, especially loved; therefore the same term is rendered in Genesis 22:12, 17 as "beloved."

³ [14] Yahweh-yireh: a Hebrew expression meaning "the Lord will see"; the reference is to the words in Genesis 22:8, "God himself will see to it."

⁴ [20-24] A list of Aramean tribes who lived to the east and northeast of Israel, twelve in number, like the twelve tribes of Israel (Genesis 35:23) and the twelve tribes of Ishmael Genesis (25:12-16).

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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