¹⁰ Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹² He said, ^(A)“Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for ^(B)now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place, ^(C)“The Lord will provide”;^[a] as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”^[b]

¹⁵ And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶ and said, ^(D)“By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring ^(E)as the stars of heaven and ^(F)as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess ^(G)the gate of his^[c] enemies, ¹⁸ and ^(H)in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, ^(I)because you have obeyed my voice.” ¹⁹ So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to ^(J)Beersheba. And Abraham lived at ^(K)Beersheba.

²⁰ Now after these things it was told to Abraham, “Behold, ^(L)Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ^21 (M)Uz his firstborn, ^(N)Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²² Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³ (^(O)Bethuel fathered Rebekah.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. ²⁴ Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

³ And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming ^(A)a baptism of repentance ^(B)for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in ^(C)the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

⁷ He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ^(K)“You brood of ^(L)vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(M)the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruits ^(N)in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ^(O)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from ^(P)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(Q)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, ^(R)“What then shall we do?” ¹¹ And he answered them, ^(S)“Whoever has two tunics^[b] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ^12 (T)Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ^(U)what shall we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, ^(V)“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^(W)what shall we do?” And he said to them, ^(X)“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^(Y)wages.”