Genesis 22

1Some time after these things, God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” and he answered, “Here I am.”

2He said, “Take your son, please—your only son, the one you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will point out to you.”

3Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his young men and his son Isaac. After splitting wood for the burnt offering, he rose and headed for the place God had spoken of to him.

4On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and caught sight of the place far off.

5Abraham told his young men, “Remain here with the donkey. The boy and I will go on to that spot; we will worship, and we will return to you.”

6Abraham loaded the wood for the burnt offering onto his son Isaac, while he took the fire and the knife in his own hand. So the two of them walked on together.

7Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “My father!” He answered, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

8“It is God who will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. So the two of them walked on together.

9When they reached the place God had spoken of to him, Abraham built the altar there and set the wood in place. Then he tied up his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10Abraham stretched out his hand and picked up the knife to slaughter his son.

11But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” He answered, “Here I am.”

12He said, “Do not reach out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him. Now I know that you fear God, since you have not held back your son, your only son, from me.”

13Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and there was a ram behind him, its horns tangled in a thicket. Abraham went over, took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering in his son’s place.

14Abraham named that place Yahweh Will Provide. It is still said today, “On the mountain of Yahweh, provision will be made.”

15The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham from heaven a second time

16and said, “By myself I have taken an oath, declares Yahweh: because you have done this thing and have not held back your son, your only son,

17I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your offspring, making them as many as the stars of the heavens and the sand on the shore of the sea. Your offspring will seize the gate of their enemies,

18and through your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, since you listened to my voice.”

19Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and traveled together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

20After these things, Abraham received word: “Milcah too has borne sons to your brother Nahor:

21Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

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

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

24His concubine, named Reumah, also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.