2God said to him, Take thine one begotten son, whom thou lovest, Isaac; and go into the land of vision, and offer thou him there into burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee.

3Therefore Abraham rose by night, and saddled his ass, and led with him two young men, and Isaac his son; and when he had hewn trees into burnt sacrifice, he went to the place which God had commanded to him.

4Forsooth in the third day, he raised [up] his eyes, and saw a place afar;

5and he said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, I and the child#22:5 According to Jewish tradition, Isaac was probably 25 years old at this time (Gehman/Josephus). shall go thither; and after that we have worshipped, we shall turn again to you.

6And he took the wood of burnt sacrifice, and laid it on Isaac his son; forsooth he bare fire, and a sword in his hands. And when they twain [or two] went together,

7Isaac said to his father, My father! And he answered, What wilt thou, son? He said, Lo! fire and wood, where is the beast of burnt sacrifice?

8Abraham said, My son, God shall purvey to him the beast of burnt sacrifice. Therefore they went together,

9and came to the place which God had showed to him; in which place Abraham builded an altar, and dressed [the] wood above; and when he had bound altogether Isaac, his son, he laid Isaac on the altar, upon the heap of wood.

10And he held forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son.

11And lo! the angel of the Lord cried from heaven, and said, Abraham! Abraham! Which answered, I am present.

12And the angel said to him, Hold thou not forth thine hand on the child, neither do thou anything of harm to him; now I know that thou dreadest God, and sparedest not thine one begotten son for me.

13Abraham raised [up] his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram cleaving by the horns among briars, which he took, and offered as burnt sacrifice for the son.

14And he called the name of that place The Lord seeth; wherefore it is said, till to this day, The Lord shall see in the hill.

15Forsooth the angel of the Lord called to Abraham the second time from heaven,

16and said, The Lord saith, I have sworn by myself, for thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine one begotten son for me,

17I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the gravel, either sand, which is in the brink of the sea; thy seed shall wield the gates of his enemies;

18and all the folks of [the] earth shall be blessed in thy seed, for thou obeyedest to my voice.

19Abraham turned again to his young men, and they went to Beersheba together, and he dwelled there.

20And so when these things were done, it was told to Abraham that also Milcah had borne sons to Nahor his brother;

21Huz the first begotten, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel,

23of whom Rebecca was born; Milcah childed these eight to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.

24Forsooth his concubine, or secon-dary wife, Reumah by name, childed Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

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B'resheet (Gen) 22

1(vii) After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, “Avraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.” 2He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz’chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you.”

3Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz’chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about. 4On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance. 5Avraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you.” 6Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz’chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.

7Yitz’chak spoke to Avraham his father: “My father?” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8Avraham replied, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son”; and they both went on together.

9They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz’chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood. 10Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

11But the angel of Adonai called to him out of heaven: “Avraham? Avraham!” He answered, “Here I am.” 12He said, “Don’t lay your hand on the boy! Don’t do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13Avraham raised his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. Avraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14Avraham called the place Adonai Yir’eh [Adonai will see (to it), Adonai provides] — as it is said to this day, “On the mountain Adonai is seen.”

15The angel of Adonai called to Avraham a second time out of heaven. 16He said, “I have sworn by myself — says Adonai — that because you have done this, because you haven’t withheld your son, your only son, 17I will most certainly bless you; and I will most certainly increase your descendants to as many as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the cities of their enemies, 18and by your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — because you obeyed my order.”

19So Avraham returned to his young men. They got up and went together to Be’er-Sheva, and Avraham settled in Be’er-Sheva.

(Maftir) 20Afterwards, Avraham was told, “Milkah too has borne children, to your brother Nachor — 21‘Utz his firstborn, Buz his brother, K’mu’el the father of Aram, 22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaf and B’tu’el. 23B’tu’el fathered Rivkah. These eight Milkah bore to Nachor Avraham’s brother. 24His concubine, whose name was Re’umah, bore children also: Tevach, Gacham, Tachash and Ma‘akhah.

Haftarah Vayera: M’lakhim Bet (2 Kings) 4:1–37 (A); 4:1–23 (S)

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Vayera: Luke 17:26 –37; Romans 9:6 – 9; Galatians 4:21–31; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 6:13–20; 11:13–19; Ya‘akov (James) 2:14–24; 2 Kefa (2 Peter) 2:4–10

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Genesis 22

B'resheet (Gen) 22