Genesis
of Justice
Abraham Commits Attempted Murder - and Is Praised
Contemporary English Version translation
Genesis
22 1Some
years later God decided to test Abraham, so he spoke to him.
Abraham answered, "Here I am, LORD."
2The LORD
said, "Go get Isaac, your only son, the one you dearly love! Take him to the
land of Moriah, and I will show you a mountain where you must sacrifice him to me on
the fires of an altar." 3So Abraham got up early the
next morning and chopped wood for the fire. He put a saddle on his donkey and left
with Isaac and two servants for the place where God had told him to go.
4Three days later
Abraham looked off in the distance and saw the place. 5He
told his servants, "Stay here with the donkey, while my son and I go over there
to worship. We will come back."
6Abraham put the wood
on Isaac's shoulder, but he carried the hot coals and the knife. As the two of them
walked along, 7-8Isaac said, "Father, we have the
coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?"
"My son," Abraham answered,
"God will provide the lamb."
The two of them walked on,
and 9when they reached the place that God had told him
about, Abraham built an altar and placed the wood on it. Next, he tied up his son and
put him on the wood. 10He then took the knife and got ready
to kill his son. 11But the LORD'S
angel shouted from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
"Here I am!" he
answered.
12"Don't hurt the
boy or harm him in any way!" the angel said. "Now I know that you truly
obey God, because you were willing to offer him your only son."
Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1999 American Bible Society