God: Kill your son and burn his body
1Later, God decided to put Abraham’s faith to the test. God called his name: “Abraham!” Abraham said, “I’m here.” 2God said, “I know Isaac is your only son and you love him deeply, but I want you to take him to the area of Moriah. There, on a mountain I will show you, I want you to kill him and burn his body on an altar as a sacrifice to me.” [1]3Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac along with two servants. He also cut some wood and took it for the altar fire. They headed out to where God told them to go. 4On day three of their trip Abraham saw their destination off in the distance. 5Abraham told his young slaves, “Stay here and take care of the donkey. My boy and I will go on ahead and worship, and then we’ll come back.” 6Abraham gave Isaac the wood to carry. Abraham carried the fire and the knife.
Isaac: "What about the lamb?"
7“Dad.” Isaac said. “I'm here, my boy,” Abraham answered. “We’ve got the fire and the wood we need for the sacrifice,” Isaac said, “but what about the lamb?” 8“Son,” Abraham answered, “God will give us a lamb to sacrifice.” The two walked on. 9They got to the place where God had told Abraham to go. Abraham built a small stone altar and put the wood on top of it. He tied up his son, Isaac, and had him lay down on top of the wood on the altar.Abraham raises the knife to kill Isaac
10Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son. 11Suddenly, the LORD’s angel cried out from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” “I’m here,” Abraham said. 12“Don’t lay a hand on the boy,” the LORD said. “Don’t hurt him. I can see how much you trust me. You put your only son’s life in my hands.”13Abraham looked up from the altar and saw a male sheep with its horns stuck in a bush. Abraham killed the ram and burned it on the altar instead of sacrificing his son. 14Abraham named the hill The LORD Provides. [2] Even now, people refer to this story when they quote an old proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD, we’ll find what we need.”
15The LORD’s angel spoke once again from heaven. 16“I am the LORD. I’m making this promise to you: Because you have trusted me enough to put your son’s life in my hands—your only son— 17I’m going to bless your life like it has never been blessed before. I’ll give you so many descendants it will be as impossible to count them as it is to count stars in the sky or grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will capture even the most heavily fortified cities of your enemies. 18Your descendants will become a blessing—a bringer of goodness—to every nation on the earth. And it’s all because you trusted me enough to obey me.” 19Abraham went back to his young slaves. They all returned to their camp in Beersheba, where Abraham lived.
