Genesis 22 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 2100 to 2000 BC, when Isaac is old enough to carry a load of firewood
Location
A three day journey north from Beersheba to the region of Moriah, later identified with the temple hill in Jerusalem
Audience
Israelites of the Mosaic era, who worshipped at the temple mount and whose law forbade child sacrifice outright
Situation
God tests Abraham by telling him to offer Isaac, the son of the promise, as a burnt offering on a mountain in Moriah. Abraham travels three days, binds Isaac on the altar, and is stopped at the last moment by the angel of the LORD, who provides a ram caught in a thicket.
Key Background
Child sacrifice was practised by some of Canaan's peoples in moments of national crisis, so the command would not have struck Abraham as unthinkable in the way it strikes a modern reader, though Israel's later law condemns it as absolutely forbidden. The whole point of the episode turns on the fact that God stops it, marking a decisive break from surrounding religious practice. The three day journey means Abraham had ample time to turn back, which is what makes it a test of sustained resolve rather than a moment of impulse, and the name Abraham gives the place, the LORD will provide, became a saying attached to the mountain where Israel's temple would later stand.
After all these things, Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He said, "Take son -- only the you love -- Isaac. Go to the land of and offer him there as a on of the mountains that I will tell you about."
Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with his son Isaac. He split wood for the burnt offering, then set out for the place Elohim had told him about.
On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there, and we will down, and then we will to you."
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac's back. He carried the fire and the in his own hands. And the of them on
Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Isaac said, "We have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"
Abraham said, "Elohim himself will the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the of them on
They came to the place Elohim had told him about. Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to his son.
But the of called out to him from the sky: "Abraham! Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
He said, "Do not lay hand on the boy, and do not do anything to him. Now I know that you in of Elohim, because you did not hold back son, only from me."
Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. He went over, took the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in of his son.
Abraham named that place Will And to this day people say, "On the mountain of it will be provided."
The angel of Yahweh called out to Abraham a second time from the sky.
He said, "I by -- this is -- because you have done this and have not held back your son, your only one,"
"I will absolutely you with I will make your as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. And your will take possession of the of their
"And through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will to them -- because you to my
Abraham returned to his young men, and they set out together for And Abraham settled in
After these things, Abraham was told, has also had children -- sons for your brother Nahor."
was the firstborn, then Buz his brother, then Kemuel the father of Aram,
then Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
Bethuel fathered These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
His whose name was Reumah, also had children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.