22:13 Abraham looked up 9 and saw 10 behind him 11 a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he 12 went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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.
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
6 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
7 tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).
8 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “lifted his eyes.”
10 tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to what Abraham saw and invites the audience to view the scene through his eyes.
11 tc The translation follows the reading of the MT; a number of Hebrew
12 tn Heb “Abraham”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.