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Genesis 22

KJV · Chapter 22/50

1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah–jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

15And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer–sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer–sheba.

20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;

21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God tests Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac; at the last moment, an angel stops him, and a ram is provided for the sacrifice in the boy's place.

Explanation

This is one of the most intense and theologically rich chapters in the Bible. God's request seems shocking at first glance, but the text makes clear from the outset that it is a 'test' (v. 1), not a final command — God never intended for Isaac to actually die. Abraham's silent obedience, even without fully understanding, and his faith that 'God will provide' (v. 8) became one of the greatest biblical examples of radical trust, cited in Hebrews 11:17-19 as proof that Abraham believed God could even raise Isaac from the dead, if necessary. The ram that appears caught by its horns at the exact moment, taking Isaac's place, is read by Christian tradition as a symbolic foreshadowing of the sacrifice of Christ, who dies in humanity's place. The practical lesson is that genuine faith may be called to trust God even when circumstances seem incomprehensible.

Fun facts

  • Mount Moriah, where this episode takes place (v. 2), is identified by 2 Chronicles 3:1 as the same site where Solomon would build the temple of Jerusalem centuries later — linking this moment of Abraham's faith directly to the heart of Israelite worship.
  • Abraham's expression 'the LORD will provide' (Jehovah-Jireh, v. 14) became one of the most used names of God in Jewish-Christian tradition to this day, recalling the idea that God provides at the exact moment of need.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Genesis 22:1After so many years of waiting for the promised son, God tests Abraham with the hardest request possible — the text tells us up front that it is a test, though Abraham did not know that at the time.
  2. Genesis 22:2God asks Abraham to offer Isaac “for a burnt offering,” that is, as a sacrifice completely consumed by fire on the altar, the way it was done with animals. It is one of the hardest requests to understand in the Bible, and the text does not soften the scene: it describes the preparation to sacrifice his own son before revealing, only later, that God would not let it happen.
  3. Genesis 22:3Abraham obeys without arguing, rising early and preparing everything needed for the journey and the sacrifice — the quick response contrasts with how hard the request was.
  4. Genesis 22:4After three days of travel, Abraham finally sees the place God had pointed out — long enough for him to reconsider, but he keeps walking.
  5. Genesis 22:5Abraham tells the servants, “I and the lad will go yonder... and come again to you,” including Isaac in the return — even though he is about to do something that seemed to leave no way back for his son. The text does not explain whether this is confidence that God will stop the death or something else; more than one reading is possible.
  6. Genesis 22:6Abraham arranges the scene of the sacrifice in detail: he puts the wood on Isaac’s own back, while he carries the fire and the knife — the two climb the mountain together.
  7. Genesis 22:7Isaac notices the animal for the sacrifice is missing and asks his father — an innocent question that exposes the tension of the scene without the boy knowing what is about to happen.
  8. Genesis 22:8When Isaac asks where the lamb for the sacrifice is, Abraham answers, “God will provide himself a lamb” — and that is exactly what happens shortly after, with the ram caught in the thicket. The name Abraham gives the place right afterward, “the Lord will provide,” became an expression still used today to say that God will work things out at the right time.
  9. Genesis 22:9Arriving at the place, Abraham builds the altar, arranges the wood, and binds his own son on top of it — the narrative does not soften the scene, it describes every step of preparing the sacrifice.
  10. Genesis 22:10Abraham goes as far as reaching out his hand with the knife to kill his son — the most tense point in the whole story, interrupted only in the next verse.
  11. Genesis 22:11At the very last possible instant, the angel of the Lord calls Abraham by name twice, stopping the sacrifice before it happens.
  12. Genesis 22:12The angel explains why he stopped it: the test had already shown that Abraham feared God enough not to withhold even his only son.
  13. Genesis 22:13The ram appears “caught in a thicket by his horns,” ready to be sacrificed in Isaac’s place. It is the turning point of the scene: what began as a request for a human sacrifice ends in an animal sacrifice, with no one having announced that outcome beforehand.
  14. Genesis 22:14Abraham names the place after what happened there — Jehovah-jireh, “the Lord will provide” — an expression that, according to the text, was still in use up to the time Genesis was written.
  15. Genesis 22:15The angel of the Lord speaks to Abraham a second time, now to announce the reward for his obedience in the verses that follow.
  16. Genesis 22:16God swears by Himself, something unusual, since there is no one greater to swear by — reinforcing the weight of the promise that follows, prompted by Abraham’s obedience.
  17. Genesis 22:17In the final promise, God says Abraham’s offspring will “possess the gate of his enemies” — an expression that is not about literal gates, but about conquering the enemies’ fortified cities, since the gate was the most strategic and defended point of an ancient city.
  18. Genesis 22:18The promise extends beyond Abraham’s own family: all the nations of the earth will be blessed through his offspring, repeating and reinforcing the original promise from chapter 12.
  19. Genesis 22:19Abraham returns to where the servants were waiting, and they all go back together to Beersheba, where he settles — closing the episode of the sacrifice.
  20. Genesis 22:20After the episode on Mount Moriah, news arrives about the family left behind: Nahor, Abraham’s brother, has also had sons, with Milcah.
  21. Genesis 22:21Lists Nahor’s first sons, including Kemuel, whose own son, Aram, will give his name to an important people of the region.
  22. Genesis 22:22Continues the list of Nahor’s sons, among them Bethuel — a name that stands out in the next verse.
  23. Genesis 22:23Bethuel is the father of Rebekah — the mention anticipates who will become, just a few chapters later, Isaac’s wife.
  24. Genesis 22:24The text adds more of Nahor’s sons, this time through a concubine, Reumah — showing that Abraham’s family was also growing on the other side, even far from Canaan.

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