Discovery BoxGenesis 22:1-24
Context22:1 Some time after these things God tested 1 Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham 2 replied. 22:2 God 3 said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac 4 – and go to the land of Moriah! 5 Offer him up there as a burnt offering 6 on one of the mountains which I will indicate to 7 you.”
22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. 8 He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out 9 for the place God had spoken to him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of 10 the place in the distance. 22:5 So he 11 said to his servants, “You two stay 12 here with the donkey while 13 the boy and I go up there. We will worship 14 and then return to you.” 15
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, 16 and the two of them walked on together. 22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, 17 “My father?” “What is it, 18 my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, 19 “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide 20 for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.
22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there 21 and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up 22 his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter 23 his son. 22:11 But the Lord’s angel 24 called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. 22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” 25 the angel said. 26 “Do not do anything to him, for now I know 27 that you fear 28 God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”
22:13 Abraham looked up 29 and saw 30 behind him 31 a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he 32 went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” 33 It is said to this day, 34 “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.” 35
22:15 The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven 22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ 36 decrees the Lord, 37 ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed bless you, 38 and I will greatly multiply 39 your descendants 40 so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession 41 of the strongholds 42 of their enemies. 22:18 Because you have obeyed me, 43 all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 44 using the name of your descendants.’”
22:19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set out together 45 for Beer Sheba where Abraham stayed. 46
22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah 47 also has borne children to your brother Nahor – 22:21 Uz the firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 48 22:22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 22:23 (Now 49 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.) These were the eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore him children – Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
Genesis 5:12
Context5:12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel.
Genesis 6:1
Context6:1 When humankind 50 began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born 51 to them, 52
Job 21:14-15
Context21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 53 know your ways. 54
21:15 Who is the Almighty, that 55 we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray 56 to him?’ 57
Psalms 50:16-17
Context50:16 God says this to the evildoer: 58
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant? 59
50:17 For you hate instruction
and reject my words. 60
Isaiah 27:11
Context27:11 When its branches get brittle, 61 they break;
women come and use them for kindling. 62
For these people lack understanding, 63
therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;
the one who formed them has no mercy on them.
Isaiah 30:9-12
Context30:9 For these are rebellious people –
they are lying children,
children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. 64
30:10 They 65 say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”
and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! 66
Tell us nice things,
relate deceptive messages. 67
30:11 Turn aside from the way,
stray off the path. 68
Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.” 69
30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You have rejected this message; 70
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, 71
and rely on that kind of behavior. 72
John 3:20
Context3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.
Acts 7:51-54
Context7:51 “You stubborn 73 people, with uncircumcised 74 hearts and ears! 75 You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors 76 did! 7:52 Which of the prophets did your ancestors 77 not persecute? 78 They 79 killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, 80 whose betrayers and murderers you have now become! 81 7:53 You 82 received the law by decrees given by angels, 83 but you did not obey 84 it.” 85
7:54 When they heard these things, they became furious 86 and ground their teeth 87 at him.
[22:1] 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.
[22:1] 2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:2] 3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[22:2] 4 sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.
[22:2] 5 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.
[22:2] 6 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.
[22:2] 7 tn Heb “which I will say to.”
[22:3] 8 tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”
[22:3] 9 tn Heb “he arose and he went.”
[22:4] 10 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.”
[22:5] 11 tn Heb “And Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
[22:5] 12 tn The Hebrew verb is masculine plural, referring to the two young servants who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey.
[22:5] 13 tn The disjunctive clause (with the compound subject preceding the verb) may be circumstantial and temporal.
[22:5] 14 tn This Hebrew word literally means “to bow oneself close to the ground.” It often means “to worship.”
[22:5] 15 sn It is impossible to know what Abraham was thinking when he said, “we will…return to you.” When he went he knew (1) that he was to sacrifice Isaac, and (2) that God intended to fulfill his earlier promises through Isaac. How he reconciled those facts is not clear in the text. Heb 11:17-19 suggests that Abraham believed God could restore Isaac to him through resurrection.
[22:6] 16 sn He took the fire and the knife in his hand. These details anticipate the sacrifice that lies ahead.
[22:7] 17 tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
[22:7] 18 tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).
[22:7] 19 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.
[22:8] 20 tn Heb “will see for himself.” The construction means “to look out for; to see to it; to provide.”
[22:9] 21 sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?
[22:9] 22 sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.
[22:10] 23 tn Heb “in order to slaughter.”
[22:11] 24 sn Heb “the messenger of the
[22:12] 25 tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”
[22:12] 26 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[22:12] 27 sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).
[22:12] 28 sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.
[22:13] 29 tn Heb “lifted his eyes.”
[22:13] 30 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.
[22:13] 31 tc The translation follows the reading of the MT; a number of Hebrew
[22:13] 32 tn Heb “Abraham”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[22:14] 33 tn Heb “the Lord sees” (יְהוָה יִרְאֶה, yÿhvah yir’eh, traditionally transliterated “Jehovah Jireh”; see the note on the word “provide” in v. 8). By so naming the place Abraham preserved in the memory of God’s people the amazing event that took place there.
[22:14] 34 sn On the expression to this day see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until this Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.
[22:14] 35 sn The saying connected with these events has some ambiguity, which was probably intended. The Niphal verb could be translated (1) “in the mountain of the Lord it will be seen/provided” or (2) “in the mountain the Lord will appear.” If the temple later stood here (see the note on “Moriah” in Gen 22:2), the latter interpretation might find support, for the people went to the temple to appear before the Lord, who “appeared” to them by providing for them his power and blessings. See S. R. Driver, Genesis, 219.
[22:16] 36 tn Heb “By myself I swear.”
[22:16] 37 tn Heb “the oracle of the
[22:17] 38 tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.
[22:17] 39 tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).
[22:17] 40 tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
[22:17] 42 tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).
[22:18] 43 tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.
[22:18] 44 tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)
[22:19] 45 tn Heb “and they arose and went together.”
[22:19] 46 tn Heb “and Abraham stayed in Beer Sheba. This has been translated as a relative clause for stylistic reasons.
[22:20] 47 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence begins with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) which draws attention to the statement.
[22:21] 48 sn This parenthetical note about Kemuel’s descendant is probably a later insertion by the author/compiler of Genesis and not part of the original announcement.
[22:23] 49 tn The disjunctive clause gives information that is important but parenthetical to the narrative. Rebekah would become the wife of Isaac (Gen 24:15).
[6:1] 50 tn The Hebrew text has the article prefixed to the noun. Here the article indicates the generic use of the word אָדָם (’adam): “humankind.”
[6:1] 51 tn This disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) is circumstantial to the initial temporal clause. It could be rendered, “with daughters being born to them.” For another example of such a disjunctive clause following the construction וַיְהִיכִּי (vayÿhiki, “and it came to pass when”), see 2 Sam 7:1.
[6:1] 52 tn The pronominal suffix is third masculine plural, indicating that the antecedent “humankind” is collective.
[21:14] 53 tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”
[21:14] 54 sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.
[21:15] 55 tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”
[21:15] 56 tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.
[21:15] 57 tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.
[50:16] 58 tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the
[50:16] 59 tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The
[50:17] 60 tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”
[27:11] 61 tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[27:11] 62 tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.
[27:11] 63 tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”
[30:9] 64 tn Or perhaps, “instruction” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV, TEV “teachings.”
[30:10] 65 tn Heb “who” (so NASB, NRSV). A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[30:10] 66 tn Heb “Do not see for us right things.”
[30:10] 67 tn Heb “Tell us smooth things, see deceptive things.”
[30:11] 68 sn The imagery refers to the way or path of truth, as revealed by God to the prophet.
[30:11] 69 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[30:12] 70 tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
[30:12] 71 tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”
[30:12] 72 tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”
[7:51] 73 sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.
[7:51] 74 tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.
[7:51] 75 tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)
[7:51] 76 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:52] 77 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
[7:52] 78 sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
[7:52] 79 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
[7:52] 80 sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
[7:52] 81 sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).
[7:53] 82 tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.
[7:53] 83 tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.
[7:53] 84 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (fulassw, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
[7:53] 85 tn Or “did not obey it.”
[7:54] 86 tn This verb, which also occurs in Acts 5:33, means “cut to the quick” or “deeply infuriated” (BDAG 235 s.v. διαπρίω).
[7:54] 87 tn Or “they gnashed their teeth.” This idiom is a picture of violent rage (BDAG 184 s.v. βρύχω). See also Ps 35:16.
