Genesis 22:1–4

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested1 Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham2 replied. 22:2 God3 said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac4—and go to the land of Moriah!5 Offer him up there as a burnt offering6 on one of the mountains which I will indicate to7 you.”

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.8 He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out9 for the place God had spoken to him about.

22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of10 the place in the distance.

1	sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44–48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9–30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19–35.
2	tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3	tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4	sn Take your son … Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
5	sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.
6	sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.
7	tn Heb “which I will say to.”
8	tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”
9	tn Heb “he arose and he went.”
10	tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.”