God Tests Abraham

22 After these things God tested ·Abraham’s faith [^LAbraham]. God said to him, “Abraham!”

And he answered, “Here I am.”

² Then God said, “Take your ·only [or precious] son, Isaac, the son you love, and go to the land of Moriah [2 Chr. 3:1; ^Cthe temple would later be built here]. Offer him as a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

³ Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two ·servants [or young men] with him. After he cut the wood for the sacrifice, they went to the place God had told them to go. ⁴ On the third day Abraham ·looked up [^Llifted his eyes] and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his ·servants [or young men], “Stay here with the donkey. My son and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the ·sacrifice [^Lwhole burnt offering] and ·gave it to his son to carry [^Lplaced it on his son], but he himself took the knife and the ·fire [or tinder]. So he and his son went on together.

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

Abraham answered, “Yes, my son.”

Isaac said, “We have the ·fire [or tinder] and the wood, but where is the ·lamb [sheep] ·we will burn as a sacrifice [^Lfor the whole burnt offering]?”

⁸ Abraham answered, “God will ·give us [provide; ^Lsee for] the ·lamb [sheep] for the ·sacrifice [whole burnt offering], my son.”

So Abraham and his son went on together ⁹ and came to the place God had told him about. Abraham built an altar there. He ·laid [arranged] the wood on it and then ·tied up [bound] his son Isaac and laid him on the wood on the altar. ¹⁰ Then Abraham [^Lsent his hand and] took his knife and was about to ·kill [slaughter] his son.

¹¹ But the ·angel [messenger] of the Lord [16:7] called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “Yes.”

¹² The angel said, “Don’t ·kill [^Lsend out your hand against] your son or ·hurt [^Ldo anything to] him in any way. Now I can see that you ·trust [^Lfear] God and that you have not ·kept [withheld] your son, your ·only [or precious] son, from me [Heb. 11:17–19; James 2:21–23].”

¹³ Then Abraham ·looked up [^Llifted his eyes] and saw ·a [or another] ·male sheep [ram] caught in a ·bush [thicket] by its horns. So Abraham went and took the sheep offering it as a whole burnt offering to God, ·and his son was saved [^L … in the place of his son]. ¹⁴ So Abraham named that place The Lord ·Provides [or Sees; ^CHebrew: Yahweh Yireh]. Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be ·provided [or seen].”

¹⁵ The ·angel [messenger] of the Lord [16:7] called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, “The Lord says, ‘Because you did not ·keep back [withhold] your son, your ·only [precious] son, from me, I ·make you this promise by my own name [^Lswear by myself]: ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and ·give you many descendants [^Lmultiply your seed]. They will be as many as the stars in the ·sky [heavens] and the sand on the seashore, and they will ·capture [^Lpossess] the ·cities [^Lgates] of their enemies. ¹⁸ Through your ·descendants [^Lseed] all the nations on the earth will be blessed, because you ·obeyed [listened to] me [12:1–3].’ ”

¹⁹ Then Abraham returned to his ·servants [young men]. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham ·stayed there [^Lresided in Beersheba; 21:14].

²⁰ After these things happened, someone told Abraham: “·Your brother Nahor and his wife Milcah have children now [^LMilcah has born sons to Nahor your brother; 11:29]. ²¹ The ·first son [firstborn] is Uz, and ·the second [^Lhis brother] is Buz. ·The third son is […and] Kemuel (the father of Aram). ²² Then there are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah was the mother of these eight sons, and Nahor, Abraham’s brother, was the father. ²⁴ Also Nahor had four other sons by his ·slave woman [concubine; ^Ca secondary wife] Reumah. Their names were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah [^CNahor’s offspring may have been the ancestors of the Aramaean tribes in Syria].