A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 22
Genesis 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the first book of the Bible and contains one of the most dramatic narratives in scripture: God's test of Abraham through the command to sacrifice his son Isaac. The 24-verse chapter, sometimes called the binding of Isaac or by its Hebrew name the Akedah, has been read and discussed for thousands of years in Jewish and Christian traditions.
The chapter opens with God testing Abraham. He calls Abraham by name and tells him to take his son, his only son, Isaac, whom he loves, and go to the region of Moriah. There he is to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on one of the mountains God will show him.
Abraham obeys without recorded protest. Early the next morning he gets up, saddles his donkey, takes two servants and his son, and sets out. He cuts wood for the burnt offering himself. On the third day he sees the place in the distance.
He tells the servants to stay with the donkey while he and the boy go on. They will worship and then come back. Isaac carries the wood. Abraham carries the fire and the knife. As they walk together, Isaac asks where the lamb is for the burnt offering. Abraham replies that God himself will provide the lamb.
They reach the place. Abraham builds an altar, arranges the wood, binds Isaac, and lays him on the altar on top of the wood. He reaches out and takes the knife.
The angel of the Lord calls from heaven, stopping him. "Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son." Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. He sacrifices the ram in place of Isaac and names the place "The LORD Will Provide."
The chapter closes with the angel renewing God's promises to Abraham: he will be blessed, his descendants will be as numerous as the stars and the sand, and through his offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.
Verse 1. Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
Verse 2. “Take your son,” God said, “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, which I will show you.”
Verse 3. So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated.
Verse 4. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Verse 5. “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”
Verse 6. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.
Verse 7. Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Verse 8. Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.
Verse 9. When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.
Verse 10. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
Verse 11. Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.
Verse 12. “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
Verse 13. Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
Verse 14. And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Verse 15. And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,
Verse 16. saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,
Verse 17. I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Verse 18. And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Verse 19. Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.
Verse 20. Some time later, Abraham was told, “Milcah has also borne sons to your brother Nahor:
Verse 21. Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram),
Verse 22. Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
Verse 23. And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor.
Verse 24. Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
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