Genesis 22:1-18

Abraham Tested

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together,

7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

14 So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

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

16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,

17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies,

18 and through your offspring^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,^[c] because you have obeyed me.”

Genesis 22:1-18 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 22

In this chapter we have an account of an order given by God to Abraham to sacrifice his son, Ge 22:1,2; of his readiness to obey the will of God, he immediately preparing everything for that purpose, Ge 22:3-10, of the order being reversed, and another sacrifice substituted in its room, which occasioned the giving a new name to the place where it was done, Ge 22:11-14; upon which the promise of special blessings, of a numerous offspring, and of the seed in whom all nations should be blessed, is renewed, Ge 22:15-18; after this Abraham returns to Beersheba, where he is informed of the increase of his brother Nahor's family, Ge 22:19-24.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 15:25; Exodus 16:4; Exodus 20:20; Deuteronomy 8:2,16; Deuteronomy 13:3; Judges 2:22; Judges 3:1; 2 Chronicles 32:31; Psalms 66:10; Hebrews 11:17; James 1:12-13
• 2. ver 11; Genesis 31:11; Genesis 46:2; 1Sa 3:4,6,8; Isaiah 6:8
• 3. ver 12,16; John 3:16; Hebrews 11:17; 1 John 4:9
• 4. 2 Chronicles 3:1
• 5. S Genesis 8:20
• 6. ver 9
• 7. Joshua 8:10
• 8. Exodus 24:14
• 9. John 19:17
• 10. ver 10; Judges 19:29
• 11. Exodus 29:38-42; Leviticus 1:10; Revelation 13:8
• 12. ver 14
• 13. ver 13; S John 1:29
• 14. ver 2
• 15. S Genesis 4:26; S Genesis 8:20
• 16. Leviticus 1:7; 1 Kings 18:33
• 17. Hebrews 11:17-19; James 2:21
• 18. S ver 6
• 19. ver 3; S Genesis 18:19
• 20. S Genesis 16:7
• 21. S Genesis 21:17
• 22. Genesis 46:2
• 23. S ver 1
• 24. S Genesis 18:19; Genesis 42:18; Exodus 18:21; 1 Samuel 15:22; Job 1:1; Job 37:24; Proverbs 8:13; James 2:21-22
• 25. S ver 2; John 3:16; 1 John 4:9
• 26. S ver 8
• 27. S Genesis 8:20; Romans 8:32
• 28. Exodus 17:15; Judges 6:24
• 29. Isaiah 30:29
• 30. ver 8
• 31. S Genesis 16:7
• 32. S Genesis 21:17
• 33. Exodus 13:11; Exodus 32:13; Exodus 33:1; Isaiah 45:23; Isaiah 62:8; Jeremiah 22:5; Jeremiah 44:26; Jeremiah 49:13; Jeremiah 51:14; Amos 6:8; Luke 1:73; Hebrews 6:13
• 34. S ver 2
• 35. S Genesis 12:2
• 36. Hebrews 6:14*
• 37. S Genesis 15:5; Exodus 32:13; Deuteronomy 7:7; Deuteronomy 28:62
• 38. S Genesis 12:2; S Genesis 26:24; Genesis 32:12; Hosea 1:10; Romans 9:27; Hebrews 11:12
• 39. Genesis 24:60; Esther 9:2
• 40. S Genesis 12:2,3; Acts 3:25*; Galatians 3:8*
• 41. S ver 10; Genesis 17:2,9; Psalms 105:9

Footnotes

• [a] Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text "a ram behind him"
• [b] Or "seed"
• [c] Or "and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings" (see 48:20)