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1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham, and said unto him, “Abraham;” and he said, “Here am I.”

2 And he said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah; and there lift him up for a dedication[a] upon one of the mountains which I will tell you.”

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

4 On the third day Abraham looked and could see the place from afar.

5 And Abraham said unto his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and the boy and I will go there; and we will worship, and return again to you.”

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

7 And Isaac spoke to 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?”

8 And Abraham said, “God will [a]provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son;” so they went both of them together.

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

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

11 And the angel of the LORD called to him out of heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham,” and he said, “Here I am.”

12 And he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy, neither do anything to him; for 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 a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering instead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The LORD will provide”[a]: as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

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

16 and said, “By myself have I sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,

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

18 and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth [d]be blessed; because you have obeyed my voice.”

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

20 And it came to pass after these things, that Abraham was told, “Behold, Milcah, she has also borne children to your brother Nahor:

21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

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

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

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.”

[2] h.לְעֹלָ֔ה (lə·‘ō·lāh,) KJV.“as a burnt offering”; although built upon a verb which means to ascend and to dedicate - in actual practice means “a whole burnt offering.” Such a thing would have seemed impossible to Abraham not just because Issac was his firstborn son, but because of God's word 'one who sheds innocent blood shall have his blood spilled, since the human being was created in the Divine image' (Genesis 8:6), 'his brother's blood is crying out from beneath the ground' (Genesis 3:10) and so forth, not to mention God's covenant 'through Isaac shall be designated your special seed.' (Genesis 21:12). Therefore it appears as if God is contradicting himself. This cannot be, so “And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together.” (Genesis 22:8). Nevertheless it appears as if Abraham did not really understand the message and was making an assumption upon himself. Issac agreed, whatever their understanding was, and allowed himself to be bound buy an old man (so that he would not resist at the last moment out of fear) (Genesis 22:9).

It is on this basis that Rashi comments on the words “and lift him up” (Genesis 22:2): “[G-d] did not say 'slaughter him', because the Holy One blessed be He did not want Isaac to be slaughtered; He merely said 'lift him up' upon the mountain to make of him a dedication, and once he [Isaac] agreed to be dedicated [in life] (Genesis 22:9), He [G-d] said that he was to be brought down.” (Bereshit Rabbah 56,8) And indeed from then on, the Midrash refers to Isaac as a “pure dedication” - olah temimah.

[3] Christians may say that Issac is a 'type' of, or figure of Jesus. There are several problems with this, least among that Issac was not actually sacrificed. Second to this, there is some doubt as to whether Abraham fully understood God's command to him in taking Issac up onto the mountain. See extended commentary.

[8] Hebrew ‘see for himself.’

[14] Yah·weh yir·’eh; h.[יְהוָ֣ה יִרְאֶ֑ה] “The LORD will provide”

[18] Or, bless themselves