Chapter 22

After this, God would put Abraham to the test. So he called to him, Abraham, Abraham; and when he said, I am here, at thy command,

God told him, Take thy only son, thy beloved son Isaac, with thee, to the land of Clear Vision,1 and there offer him to me in burnt-sacrifice on a mountain which I will shew thee.

Rising, therefore, at dawn, Abraham saddled his ass, bidding two of the men-servants and his son Isaac follow him; he cut the wood needed for the burnt-sacrifice, and then set out for the place of which God had spoken to him.

It was two days later when he looked up and saw it, still far off;

and now he said to his servants, Wait here with the ass, while I and my son make our way yonder; we will come back to you, when we have offered worship there.

Then he took the wood for the sacrifice, and gave it to his son Isaac to carry; he himself carried the brazier and the knife. As they walked along together

Isaac said to him, Father. What is it, my son? he asked. Why, said he, we have the fire here and the wood; where is the lamb we need for a victim?

My son, said Abraham, God will see to it that there is a lamb to be sacrificed. So they went on together

till they reached the place God had shewn him. And here he built an altar, and set the wood in order on it; then he bound his son Isaac and laid him down there on the altar, above the pile of wood.

And he reached out, and took up the knife, to slay his son.

But now, from heaven, an angel of the Lord called to him, Abraham, Abraham. And when he answered, Here am I, at thy command,

the angel said, Do the lad no hurt, let him alone. I know now that thou fearest God; for my sake thou wast ready to give up thy only son.

And Abraham, looking about him, saw behind him a ram caught by the horns in a thicket; this he took, and offered it as a burnt-sacrifice, instead of his son.

So Abraham called that spot, The Lord’s Foresight; and the saying goes to this day, On the mountain top, the Lord will see to it.

Once more the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven; and he said,

This message the Lord has for thee: I have taken an oath by my own name to reward thee for this act of thine, when thou wast ready to give up thy only son for my sake.

More and more will I bless thee, more and more will I give increase to thy posterity, till they are countless as the stars in heaven, or the sand by the sea shore; thy children shall storm the gates of their enemies;

all the races of the world shall find a blessing through thy posterity, for this readiness of thine to do my bidding.

Then Abraham went back to his servants, and took them with him to Bersabee; it was at Bersabee that Abraham made his dwelling.

It was after this Abraham had news that his brother Nachor, too, had had sons by his wife Melcha.

Hus was the name of his first-born, and the next brother was called Buz; then Camuel from whom the Syrians are sprung,

and Cased and Azau, Pheldas too and Jedlaph,

and then Bathuel, the father of Rebecca; all these eight sons were born to Nachor, Abraham’s brother, by his wife Melcha.

He had, too, a concubine called Roma; she bore him Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.