Genesis 22

CHAPTER 22

1And after that these things were done, God assayed Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! Abraham! He answered, I am present.

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.

Genesis 22

1After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, “Abraham!”

“Yes?” answered Abraham. “I’m listening.”

2He said, “Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I’ll point out to you.”

3-5Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham told his two young servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.”

6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together.

7Isaac said to Abraham his father, “Father?”

“Yes, my son.”

“We have flint and wood, but where’s the sheep for the burnt offering?”

8Abraham said, “Son, God will see to it that there’s a sheep for the burnt offering.” And they kept on walking together.

9-10They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.

11Just then an angel of God called to him out of Heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

12“Don’t lay a hand on that boy! Don’t touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn’t hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me.”

13Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14Abraham named that place God-Yireh (God-Sees-to-It). That’s where we get the saying, “On the mountain of God, he sees to it.”

15-18The angel of God spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: “I swear—God’s sure word!—because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I’ll bless you—oh, how I’ll bless you! And I’ll make sure that your children flourish—like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me.”

19Then Abraham went back to his young servants. They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba.

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20-23After all this, Abraham got the news: “Your brother Nahor is a father! Milcah has given him children: Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (he was the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” (Bethuel was the father of Rebekah.) Milcah gave these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

24His concubine, Reumah, gave him four more children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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Genesis 22

Genesis 22