Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Genesis 22
Abraham Is Tested
After these events, God tested Abraham. “Abraham!” God called. “Here I am,” he answered. God said, “Take your son, your only one, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will name to you.”
Abraham rose early, saddled his donkey, and took two of his servants and his son Isaac with him. He split wood for the burnt offering, then set out for the place God had named.
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
Abraham told his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there, bow in worship, and return to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He carried the fire and the knife himself. The two of them walked on together.
Isaac spoke to his father Abraham: “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he answered. Isaac said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God will see to the sheep for the burnt offering, my son.” The two of them walked on together.
When they reached the place God had named, Abraham built the altar and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
The Call from the Heavens
Then the LORD's messenger called to him from the heavens, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do nothing to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me.”
Abraham looked up and saw a ram behind him, caught by its horns in a thicket. He went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
Abraham named that place “The LORD Will See to It.” That is why people still say, “On the LORD's mountain it will be provided.”
The Promise Reaffirmed
The LORD's messenger called to Abraham from the heavens a second time
and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD: because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only one, I will surely bless you and multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and the sand along the seashore. Your descendants will possess their enemies' gate. Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing, because you listened to my voice.”
Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beersheba. Abraham settled in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Family
After these events, Abraham was told, “Milcah too has borne sons to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn, Uz's brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham's brother.
Nahor's concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.