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Genesis 22:1-2
New English Translation
Genesis 22:1-2
New English Translation
The Sacrifice of Isaac
22 Some time after these things God tested[a] Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham[b] replied. 2 God[c] said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac[d]—and go to the land of Moriah![e] Offer him up there as a burnt offering[f] on one of the mountains which I will indicate to[g] you.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 22:1 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.
- Genesis 22:1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 22:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 22:2 sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
- Genesis 22:2 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.
- Genesis 22:2 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.
- Genesis 22:2 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
New English Translation (NET)
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