Some time later God tested
Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you
love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt
offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled 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. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw
the place in the distance. 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.”
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, 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?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the
burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
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. Then he reached out
his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the
Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“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.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by
its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a
burnt offering instead of his son. 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.”
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time
and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because
you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
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, and through
your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you
have obeyed me.”
Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together
for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
