Genesis 22

Some time after these things, God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And Abraham said, "Here I am."

1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

NoteThe King James "tempt" did not mean "entice to do wrong" in 1611; it meant to test or put to the proof, which is what the Hebrew verb here means. "Here I am" translates a single Hebrew word, hinneni, a set reply meaning roughly "I'm listening, ready", it answers a summons rather than reporting one's location.

2God said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you about."

2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Note"Your only son": Abraham already had a son, Ishmael, by Hagar (Genesis 16), who had been sent away in the previous chapter. The Hebrew word can mean "only" or "one and only, irreplaceable." (The land of Moriah is otherwise unknown; the only other place the name appears (2 Chronicles 3:1) attaches it to the hill in Jerusalem where the temple was later built.) A burnt offering was a sacrifice killed and then burned whole on the altar, with no portion kept back to be eaten by the worshiper or the priest; that total consumption is what distinguished it from other offerings.

3Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, then set out for the place God had told him about.

3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Note"Young men" translates a Hebrew word covering both a youth and a household servant; these are Abraham's servants. The same word is used of Isaac in verses 5 and 12.

4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away.

4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and we will come back to you."

5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Note"The boy" is that same flexible Hebrew word: it can cover anyone from a small child to a young man of marriageable age, so the text does not fix Isaac's age here.

6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He carried the fire in his own hand, and a knife. And the two of them walked on together.

6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

Note"Carried the fire in his own hand" means live coals in a container. Fire was not struck fresh on the spot; it was carried from an existing hearth to kindle the altar wood.

7Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, "My father." Abraham said, "Here I am, my son." Isaac said, "Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering." And the two of them walked on together.

8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

NoteThe Hebrew is genuinely ambiguous and old translators divided over it. It can mean "God will see to the lamb for himself" (that is, provide one), or, reading the last words differently, "God will provide himself the lamb, my son." The verb behind "provide" is literally "see," and it returns in verse 14.

9They came to the place God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order on it. He tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

NoteAn altar was a raised platform of earth or unworked stone on which an offering was burned. "Tied up" renders a rare Hebrew verb used nowhere else in the Bible; from it Jewish tradition names this whole episode the Akedah, "the Binding."

10Then Abraham reached out his hand and picked up the knife to kill his son.

10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11The angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

Note"Angel" translates a Hebrew word that simply means "messenger.", Where the King James prints LORD in capitals it is standing in for the personal name of God, four Hebrew consonants usually written YHWH, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud.

12He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not held back your son, your only son, from me."

12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Note"Fear God" in Hebrew means reverence and obedient awe rather than fright, closer to "hold God in awe" than "be afraid of God."

13Abraham looked up, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

NoteA ram is an adult male sheep, an animal of value, and the horns are what pin it in the bushes so it cannot bolt. Some ancient copies read "a ram" and others "one ram" or "a ram behind him", the two Hebrew words differ by a single letter.

14Abraham named that place Jehovah-jireh. So it is said to this day, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be seen."

14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

NoteJehovah-jireh is the Hebrew phrase left untranslated: it means "the LORD will see" and so "the LORD will provide", the same verb Abraham used in verse 8, and the same verb behind "it will be seen" at the end of this verse. The wordplay cannot be carried into English by any one word. "To this day" means the time of the writer, not of Abraham.

15The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16and said, "I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that because you have done this thing and have not held back your son, your only son,

16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

NoteOaths were normally sworn by naming someone greater as guarantor. "I have sworn by myself" acknowledges there is no greater name available; it is a formal, binding form of words, not merely emphasis.

17I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your descendants like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gate of their enemies.

17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

NoteThe gate of a walled town was its weak point militarily and also its civic center, where elders gave judgment and business was transacted. To "possess the gate" of enemies means to take and control their towns.

18And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

NoteThe Hebrew verb form here can be read two ways, and both are ancient: "all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants," or "all the nations of the earth will bless themselves by your descendants": that is, will use them as the byword in pronouncing a blessing ("may you be like them").

19So Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

NoteBeersheba lay at the southern edge of settled country, on the dry border of the Negev; it functions in Genesis as the far southern marker of the land.

20Some time after these things, Abraham was told, "Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor:

20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;

NoteGenealogies are placed in Genesis where they do work in the story. This one exists to introduce Rebekah in verse 23; two chapters later Abraham sends a servant back to this branch of the family to find a wife for Isaac.

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

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

NoteSeveral of these names are also the names of peoples and regions rather than only of individuals, Uz is the land Job is said to come from, and Aram is the Aramean people of Syria. Ancient genealogies often mapped the surrounding nations by tracing them to a common ancestor.

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

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

23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

24Nahor's concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Thahash, and Maachah.

24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

NoteA concubine was a secondary wife: a recognized member of the household with a lower legal standing than a full wife, whose children were acknowledged and named, as here, though they usually ranked behind the wife's children in inheritance.