The binding of Isaac (the Akedah) · Question

What the text actually says

Text

A faithful retelling, step by step. Nothing added, nothing smoothed over.

Genesis 22:1–2
God calls Abraham by name, and Abraham answers. God tells him to take Isaac, his only son, whom he loves, to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain God will name. The narrator tells readers that this is a test; the chapter never says Abraham was told.
Read it in context
^22:1Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. ²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
Genesis 22:5
Abraham tells his young men to stay with the donkey while he and the boy go to worship. He says that both he and the boy will return to them.
Read it in context
⁵“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”
Genesis 22:6–8
Abraham puts the wood for the offering on Isaac and carries the fire and knife himself. Isaac asks about the lamb. Calling him 'my son', Abraham answers that God will provide it, and the two walk on together.
Read it in context
^22:6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together. ⁷Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.
Genesis 22:9
Abraham reaches the place God named, builds the altar and arranges the wood. He ties Isaac and lays him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Read it in context
⁹When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.

Continue the retelling (4 more paragraphs)

Genesis 22:11–12
The angel of the LORD calls to Abraham from heaven, and Abraham answers. The angel tells him not to harm the boy and says he now knows Abraham fears God, because Abraham has not withheld his only son.
Read it in context
^22:11Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
Genesis 22:13–14
Abraham looks up and sees a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. He sacrifices it in his son's place, though the text records no command to do so. He names the place YHWHYHWHGod’s personal name in the Hebrew Bible, written with four consonants called the Tetragrammaton. Sarah Cook describes Jewish avoidance of pronouncing it out of reverence; the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary notes LORD as its rendering in many English Bibles.From: Cook; Cook; Maas; PowellAll terms →-yireh. The narrator links that name to a saying about the mountain of the LORD that was still in use.
Read it in context
^22:13Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
Genesis 22:15–18
The angel calls a second time with an oath from the LORD. Because Abraham has done this and not withheld his only son, his offspring will be as numerous as the stars and the sand. They will possess the gate of their enemies, and all nations will be blessed through them because Abraham obeyed.
Read it in context
^22:15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 22:19
Abraham returns to his young men. Together they set out for Beersheba, where Abraham settles. The verse does not name Isaac, but it does not say he failed to return.
Read it in context
¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

The evidence

Evidence

Each historical claim judged on its own, never a verdict on the whole story.

Open
The binding happened as an event in Abraham's life.
No independent contemporary attestation of the binding was located in the checked sources, and that limited search cannot show whether such a record should be expected.
Why this verdict
What the text narrates
Confidence: medium
No independent contemporary attestation of the binding was located in the checked sources, and that limited search cannot show whether such a record should be expected. Hendel writes that we do not know whether Abraham existed, and that even if he did, many or most details of his stories are legendary. Gunkel held that here the important matter is not to establish historical facts but to convey the father's grief and gratitude. Insight on the Scriptures dates Isaac's birth to 1918 BCE in its own chronology.^{14 15 16}
Contested · Hendel (Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature) and Gunkel treat the Abraham stories as largely legend; Insight on the Scriptures (Jehovah's Witnesses) treats the offering as an event in Isaac's life and dates his birth within its own chronology. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: An independently dated record of the event, or a sourced argument about whether such a record should be expected.
Open
The binding took place on the site of the later Jerusalem Temple.
Only 2 Chronicles 3:1 uses the name again, for the Temple mountain, without mentioning Abraham.
Why this verdict
What the text narrates
Confidence: medium
Only 2 Chronicles 3:1 uses the name again, for the Temple mountain, without mentioning Abraham. Insight on the Scriptures defends the Temple Mount against distance and visibility objections, but the dictionary it quotes says only 'the site of later Jerusalem, if not on the Temple hill'. Driver allows that the author of 22:14 probably meant the Temple hill, yet calls the land of Moriah otherwise unknown; Skinner judges attempts to identify it futile; Prudky reads it as a wordplay.^{6 sources}6 sources17. this site's data 18. 2 Chronicles 3:1 19. Bible 20. Driver 1904 21. Skinner 1910 22. Prudky 2024
Contested · Jubilees, Josephus, Rashi and Insight on the Scriptures identify the place with Zion, the Temple mountain or Jerusalem; Driver, Skinner and Prudky, critical scholars, doubt that Moriah can be located. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: Evidence locating the land of Moriah independently of the later identifications.
Open
Isaac's age at the binding can be fixed at thirty-seven.
Genesis gives no age.
Why this verdict
Claims about the text
Confidence: high
Genesis gives no age. JosephusJosephusA Jewish historian (37–after 100 CE), according to Steve Mason and the Jewish Encyclopedia. Mason explains that his Antiquities, completed in 93/94 CE, retells Judean history from creation to the eve of the war against Rome.From: Mason; Mason; Gottheil; Mason; MasonAll terms → gives twenty-five, and Insight on the Scriptures 'perhaps 25'. Etheridge's translation of Targum Pseudo-Jonathan gives thirty-six and De Andrado's thirty-seven, for a reason not established. Genesis Rabbah gives thirty-seven, with a variant of twenty-six; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer and Seder Olam give thirty-seven; RashiRashiA French commentator on the Bible and Talmud (1040–1105), also named Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, who was born and died at Troyes, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia.From: JacobsAll terms → reaches thirty-seven by assuming Sarah died at the time of the binding. Ibn Ezra thinks close to thirteen more likely, and Mbuvi reports both suggestions of a small child and a long tradition of thirty-six.^{11 sources}11 sources23. this site's data 24. Mbuvi 25. Josephus 16. Bible 26. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)27. Andrado 2011 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)29. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain)30. Seder Olam Rabbah 1 (tr. Zachary Kleiman, Sefaria; licence not stated, quoted briefly)31. Rashi 32. Ezra
Contested · Ages given by the named retellings and interpreters, from Josephus and the Targums to Ibn Ezra and Insight on the Scriptures; Mbuvi (Bible Odyssey) calls the age disputed. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: An age stated in the narrative itself.
Open
In Genesis, Isaac knowingly consents to being sacrificed.
Genesis gives Isaac a question but no explicit consent.
Why this verdict
Claims about the text
Confidence: high
Genesis gives Isaac a question but no explicit consent. Rashi finds understanding in Abraham's answer; Ibn Ezra thinks Isaac was bound against his will. Josephus, Genesis Rabbah and the TargumsTargumAn Aramaic translation of the Bible. The Jewish Encyclopedia traces the practice to the Second Temple period and describes translators rendering biblical texts into Aramaic in the synagogue.From: Bacher; Bacher; LevineAll terms → supply a consenting Isaac, and De Andrado lists his being told and his consent among features of later Jewish retellings absent from Genesis. In 4Q225 only the first letter of a second speech by Isaac survives, which the editors reconstruct as 'tie me well'.^{8 sources}8 sources25. Josephus 33. Rashi 32. Ezra 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)34. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)35. Andrado 2017 36. Andrado 2017 37. Andrado 2011
Contested · Rashi reads Abraham's answer as telling Isaac he would be the offering if no lamb appeared, so that Isaac understood; Ibn Ezra thinks Isaac was bound against his will. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: Explicit assent by Isaac in Genesis itself.
Open
The story was first told to reject child sacrifice.
Lombaard summarises five historical-critical settings proposed for the story, among them an early text warning against or ending child sacrifice and a theodicy anticipating Job.
Why this verdict
Claims about the text
Confidence: medium
Lombaard summarises five historical-critical settings proposed for the story, among them an early text warning against or ending child sacrifice and a theodicy anticipating Job. Dillmann, quoted by Driver, reads it as securing the knowledge that God does not demand human sacrifices; Skinner objects that it contains no word repudiating them. Staubli finds rescue from human sacrifice central in Syro-Canaanite and Egyptian imagery and criticises comparisons that credit Israel alone with ending it.^{4 sources}4 sources38. Lombaard 2013 11. Driver 1904 39. Skinner 1910 40. Staubli 2009
Contested · Critical scholars disagree: Dillmann (quoted by Driver) reads a lesson that God does not demand human sacrifices, and Gunkel a legend explaining why a ram replaced a child; Skinner finds no word repudiating human sacrifice, Levenson (reported by Danam) doubts an evolution from human to animal sacrifice, and Yoreh reconstructs an earliest version ending with Abraham sacrificing Isaac. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: Evidence for the earliest form, setting and use of the story.
Open
The son to be sacrificed in the Qur'an is Ishmael.
The Qur'an's sacrifice passage (37:99–111) does not name the son, and good news of Isaac follows it at 37:112.
Why this verdict
Claims others made
Confidence: high
The Qur'an's sacrifice passage (37:99–111) does not name the son, and good news of Isaac follows it at 37:112. Ibn KathirIbn KathirAn Arab historian and scholar who taught at Damascus (1301–1373), according to the first Encyclopaedia of Islam. He wrote a universal history and a commentary on the Qur’an.From: Islam; Islam; IslamAll terms → argues for Ishmael and reports al-Qurazi's argument from that order and the promise of Jacob. Andi and Ahmad argue that early commentators such as al-Suddi, Muqatil ibn Sulayman, al-Tabari and al-Samarqandi held that Isaac was meant.^{4 sources}4 sources41. (translator)42. (translator)43. Kathir 44. Andi 2024
Contested · Ibn Kathir holds that the son was Ishmael; Andi and Ahmad argue that early commentators such as al-Tabari held that it was Isaac. (as of 2026-11-08)
What would change this verdict: An explicit naming of the son within the sacrifice passage.
Outside what evidence can settle
God's command to Abraham was morally justified.
Aquinas argues that the command came from the Lord of life and death, so Abraham did not consent to murder, and Hindy and Khan that a prophet knew God's will to be good.
Why this verdict
Theological claims
Confidence: high
Aquinas argues that the command came from the Lord of life and death, so Abraham did not consent to murder, and Hindy and Khan that a prophet knew God's will to be good. Morgan found such a duty absolutely incredible, Ingersoll calls the averted act a murder, and Kant holds that Abraham could never be certain the voice was God's.^{5 sources}5 sources8. Aquinas 45. Hindy 2018 46. Sherwood 2017 47. Ingersoll 1879 7. Kant

What people get wrong

Text

Things people commonly believe the text says, checked against it.

A common belief among believers
Myth Genesis says Isaac was thirty-seven at the binding.
Actually Genesis gives no age. Rashi's thirty-seven is a calculation that assumes Sarah died at the time of the binding; Genesis Rabbah gives thirty-seven with a variant of twenty-six, Etheridge's Pseudo-Jonathan thirty-six and Josephus twenty-five.^{5 sources}5 sources23. this site's data 31. Rashi 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)26. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)25. Josephus
A common belief among skeptics
Myth Genesis makes Isaac a small child, so an older Isaac can be dismissed from the wording alone.
Actually The word used of Isaac, na'ar, is also used of Ishmael and of Abraham's servants; BDB gives 'boy, lad, youth' and 'servant, retainer'. It does not fix an age.²³
A common belief among believers
Myth Isaac explicitly agrees to the sacrifice in Genesis.
Actually Genesis gives Isaac a question but no explicit consent. Josephus supplies his consent and Rashi reads it into the exchange, while Ibn Ezra thinks he was bound against his will.^{25 33 32}

Show 6 more misconceptions

A common belief among skeptics
Myth Genesis says Abraham came down alone, so Isaac was killed or left behind.
Actually Genesis 22:19 does not name Isaac, but does not say he was absent. Ibn Ezra says he is not named because he was under Abraham's care and rejects the view that Isaac was slaughtered and revived; Genesis Rabbah and Pseudo-Jonathan say he went to study with Shem.^{5 sources}5 sources48. Genesis 22:19 49. this site's data 50. Ezra 51. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)52. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)
A common belief among believers
Myth Genesis says Sarah died because she learned about the binding.
Actually Genesis records Sarah's death without a cause. Rashi and Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer supply the link, while Josephus has Abraham and Isaac return to Sarah and live happily together.^{4 sources}4 sources10. Genesis 23:1–2 53. Rashi 54. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 32 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain)25. Josephus
A common belief among skeptics
Myth God's silence after the binding shows that he rejected Abraham.
Actually Genesis records no further divine speech to Abraham after the oath; the Netziv reads the silence as the completion of Abraham's greatness.^{55 56}
A common belief among believers
Myth The New Testament explicitly presents the binding as a picture of the Father giving the Son.
Actually Driver notes that the Church has constantly treated the scene that way, but that the New Testament does not explicitly make the application; he allows that John 1:29 may allude to 22:8. Hebrews 11 reads the offering through faith that God could raise the dead.^{57 58}
A common belief among believers
Myth The Qur'an explicitly names Ishmael as the son to be sacrificed.
Actually Its sacrifice passage leaves the son unnamed. Ibn Kathir argues for Ishmael; Andi and Ahmad report early commentators who held it was Isaac.^{41 43 44}
A common belief among skeptics
Myth Fear and Trembling tells believers to set ethics aside whenever they hear a divine command.
Actually Lippitt and Evans explain that the book asks whether Abraham's faith contains a suspension of the ethical. It is written as Johannes de silentio, who claims not to understand Abraham, and they warn against treating its views as Kierkegaard's own.^{59 60}

Hard questions

The strongest case, the strongest responses, then a plain assessment of where the logic holds.

How could a good God command a father to sacrifice his son?

Genesis narrates both the command and its withdrawal; whether a good God could give it depends on premises about divine authority and intention that the critics reject and evidence cannot settle.

See the argument

The strongest case

The command itself is the objection, even though Isaac survives. The deist Thomas Morgan (1737), as Sherwood quotes him, found it absolutely incredible that God should make it a man's duty to act against all the principles of human nature. Robert Ingersoll (1879) wrote that, if the Bible is true, a murder would have been committed had God not stopped Abraham at the right moment. Lombaard notes that the morality of any religion tied to such a godhead can be called into question, as Richard Dawkins has done, and Hindy and Khan report that Christopher Hitchens attacked the story as the prime example of what is wrong with religion.^{16 sources}16 sources2. Genesis 22:2 3. Genesis 22:9 4. Genesis 22:12 46. Sherwood 2017 47. Ingersoll 1879 61. Lombaard 2013 62. Hindy 2018 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)63. Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 4a (William Davidson Edition; Sefaria, CC BY-NC)8. Aquinas 64. Augustine 65. Driver 1904 57. Driver 1904 45. Hindy 2018 66. Sacks 67. Calvin

P1. Genesis has God command Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering; Abraham binds him on the altar, and only then does the angel stop him, commending him for not withholding his son.^{2 3 4}No listed response challenges this premise
P2. Commanding a father to kill his son is incompatible with a good God, even as a test called off at the last moment.

→ Conclusion. Either the command did not come from a good God, or the God of the story is not good.

Strongest responses

Jewish: rabbinic challenges P2

The slaughter was never commanded. In Genesis Rabbah 56, God tells Abraham that he did not say to slaughter Isaac, but to take him up; the TalmudTalmudA collection of rabbinic teachings and discussions framed as commentary on the Mishnah. Sara Ronis explains that the name usually means the Babylonian Talmud, produced from the third to seventh centuries CE.From: Ronis; RonisAll terms → (Taanit 4a) reads Jeremiah 19:5 'nor did it come into my heart' as referring to Isaac.^{28 63}

Catholic challenges P2

A command from the Lord of life. Aquinas argues that when Abraham consented to slay his son he did not consent to murder, because God, who is Lord of life and death, commanded it.⁸

Early church: Latin challenges P2

God did not delight in human sacrifice. AugustineAugustineA North African theologian (354–430), born at Tagaste, who served as bishop of Hippo from 396 until his death, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.From: Portalié; PortaliéAll terms → says Abraham could never believe that God delighted in human sacrifices, and obeyed believing that his son would rise again.⁶⁴

Protestant: Anglican challenges P2

Commanded in its age, never exacted. Driver argues that Abraham could recognise the command as divine because child sacrifice was common in his age, though today such a command would be condemned as a violation of conscience; the sacrifice, though commanded, was not exacted, showing that the God of Israel did not demand human sacrifices.^{65 57}

Islamic challenges P2

God's will is known to be good. Hindy and Khan argue that critics misread the story, since Abraham, as a prophet, had certain knowledge both that God commanded the act and that God's will is good.⁴⁵

Jewish: modern challenges the framing

A test of ownership, not of killing. Sacks proposes that the test was whether Abraham would renounce ownership of Isaac, establishing that children are not their parents' property, and rejects what he calls Kierkegaard's 'teleological suspension of the ethical' as carte blanche for religious fanatics.⁶⁶

Protestant: Reformed challenges the framing

A trial of faith in the promise. CalvinJohn CalvinA Protestant reformer (1509–1564) who settled in Geneva in 1536, with an interval away, according to the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Alongside the Institutes of the Christian Religion, he wrote commentaries on Scripture.From: Alexander; Alexander; Alexander; Alexander; AlexanderAll terms → reads the test as drawing Abraham into a contest with God's own word, since the command contradicted the promise through Isaac.^{67 9}

Plain assessment

Genesis is plain that God commands the offering and that the angel stops it only at the altar. Morgan and Ingersoll take the command itself as the moral problem, and Lombaard notes Dawkins's challenge to a religion tied to such a God. The defences differ in kind: Genesis Rabbah and Taanit deny that the slaughter was ever intended; Aquinas grounds the command in God's authority over life and death; Augustine and Driver hold that God did not want human sacrifice, Driver adding that such a command today would violate conscience; Hindy and Khan rest on a prophet's certainty that God's will is good; Sacks and Calvin read the test as being about something else. Each defence rests on a premise about God that the critics reject.

What would change this assessment: Not new evidence but an agreed view on whether divine authority or intention can make such a command good.

Assessment uses: Gen.22.1-Gen.22.2 · Gen.22.9 · Gen.22.11-Gen.22.12 · Skeptic/secular · Skeptic/secular · Jewish: rabbinic · Catholic · Early church: Latin · Protestant: Anglican · Islamic · Jewish: modern · Protestant: Reformed

Did Abraham pass the test, or should he have refused?

Genesis says Abraham passed; Kant says he should have refused, and the dispute turns on whether anyone can be certain that a command to kill comes from God, which evidence cannot settle.

See the argument

The strongest case

Kant (1798) argues that Abraham should have answered the supposed divine voice that he is quite certain he ought not to kill his good son, but is not and cannot become certain that the apparition is God, even if the voice resounds from visible heaven. Other sources darken the story without calling the test failed: Rashbam reads the test itself as God rebuking or grieving Abraham for his covenant with Abimelech; Lombaard says Abraham misleads Isaac in verse 8; and in one of Fear and Trembling's imagined retellings, Isaac sees Abraham's hand knit in despair and loses his faith. RabbinicRabbinicRelating to the rabbis, the Jewish movement of teachers that Sara Ronis describes as emerging after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem’s temple in 70 CE, with teachings and discussions collected in the Talmud.From: RonisAll terms → tradition counts a cost to Sarah: Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer has her die after Sammael tells her Abraham has slain Isaac, and Rashi says the news of the near-sacrifice shocked her to death.^{21 sources}21 sources4. Genesis 22:12 68. Genesis 22:15–16 6. Genesis 22:17–18 7. Kant 46. Sherwood 2017 69. Meir)61. Lombaard 2013 60. silentio) 1923 54. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 32 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain)53. Rashi 70. Maimonides 45. Hindy 2018 71. (Nachmanides)72. Mishnah Avot 5:3 (Mishnah Yomit, tr. Joshua Kulp; Sefaria, CC BY)73. Walsh 2012 58. Hebrews 11:17–19 59. Lippitt 74. Lipszyc 2011 75. Lipszyc 2011 55. Genesis 23:1–25:10 56. Netziv)

P1. The angel says Abraham's not withholding his only son shows that he fears God, and the oath ties the promised blessing to his having done this and obeyed.^{4 68 6}No listed response challenges this premise
P2. Readiness to kill his son was the wrong response: Abraham could be certain that killing his son was wrong but never certain that the voice was God's, so he should have refused.

→ Conclusion. Abraham's obedience was the wrong answer to the command, whatever the narrator's verdict.

Strongest responses

Jewish: medieval commentator challenges P2

A prophet's vision is certain. Maimonides says a purpose of the binding is to show that prophets held what came to them in prophetic vision to be true beyond doubt, as Abraham's readiness shows.⁷⁰

Islamic challenges P2

Certain of the command and of God's goodness. Hindy and Khan argue that Abraham, as a prophet, had certain knowledge both that God commanded the act and that God's will is good.⁴⁵

Jewish: medieval commentator challenges the conclusion

A trial turns readiness into a deed. RambanNachmanidesA Spanish Talmudist, Bible commentator and physician (1194–about 1270), also called Moses ben Nahman or Ramban. The Jewish Encyclopedia calls his Pentateuch commentary his masterpiece.From: Jacobs; Jacobs; Jacobs; JacobsAll terms → explains that a trial brings a deed from potential into actuality so that the person is rewarded for the act, and that God tries only the righteous, for their good.⁷¹

Jewish: rabbinic challenges the conclusion

The trials show Abraham's love. Mishnah Avot 5:3 says Abraham was tried with ten trials and withstood them all, to show how great his love was.⁷²

Protestant: Lutheran challenges the framing

Faith that Isaac would be restored. Walsh reports that LutherMartin LutherA German religious reformer (1483–1546), according to the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Henry Ganss’s Catholic Encyclopedia article reports that Luther translated the New Testament into German while at Wartburg.From: Lindsay; Lindsay; GanssAll terms → agrees with Hebrews that Abraham's belief in resurrection is what enabled him to pass the test; Hebrews 11:17–19 reads the offering through faith in resurrection.^{73 58}

Academic (critical) challenges the framing

Faith as trust in receiving Isaac back. Lippitt and Evans write that for Fear and Trembling the true measure of Abraham's faith is less his willingness to sacrifice Isaac than his trust that he will receive him back in this life; the book poses, rather than asserts, a 'teleological suspension of the ethical'.⁵⁹

Jewish: modern challenges the framing

The high point is hearing the voice that stops him. Levinas, as Lipszyc quotes him, called Abraham's attentiveness to the voice that led him back to the ethical order, forbidding human sacrifice, the highest point of the drama.⁷⁴

Jewish: modern challenges the framing

Abraham is the exception, not the model. Buber, as Lipszyc quotes him, warns that Moloch imitates the voice of God, and says that what God demands of ordinary people is justice, love and walking humbly with him, 'not of Abraham, His chosen one, but of you and me'.⁷⁵

Jewish: modern challenges the framing

Later silence marks completion. Genesis records no further divine speech to Abraham after the oath; the Netziv says that with the binding his greatness was completed, so God no longer spoke with him.^{55 56}

Plain assessment

Genesis gives its own verdict: the angel says Abraham's not withholding his son shows that he fears God, and the oath ties the blessing to his obedience. Kant reaches the opposite verdict, because Abraham could be certain the killing was wrong but never certain the voice was God's. Maimonides and Hindy and Khan answer with prophetic certainty, the premise Kant denies. Others keep the narrative's verdict but move its centre: Luther, as Walsh reports, and Fear and Trembling, as Lippitt and Evans read it, to trust that Isaac would be restored; Levinas to the voice that stops the sacrifice; Buber to Abraham as an exception. Rashbam reads the test as a rebuke. The Netziv reads God's later silence as completion; no source cited here reads it as rejection.

What would change this assessment: A different account of what a prophet can know; no historical evidence bears on it.

Assessment uses: Gen.22.11-Gen.22.12 · Gen.22.15-Gen.22.18 · Philosophy · Jewish: medieval commentator · Islamic · Protestant: Lutheran · Academic (critical) · Jewish: modern · Jewish: modern · Jewish: medieval commentator · Jewish: modern · What follows the binding

Does the story reject child sacrifice, or preserve its logic?

Genesis stops this sacrifice without condemning the practice; whether the story was told against child sacrifice depends on its reconstructed origin, which the cited scholars argue both ways.

See the argument

The strongest case

Skinner (1910) objected to reading the story as a lesson against human sacrifice that it contains no word repudiating it, and the oath rewards Abraham precisely for not withholding his son. Levenson, as Danam reports, argues that it is hard to support the view that the story shows an evolution from human to animal sacrifice, and, against von Rad, that the word 'test' gives no hint the demand need not be carried out. Yoreh argues that the earliest version ended with Abraham sacrificing Isaac. Staubli reads reminders of pre-monotheistic religion in ElohimElohimA grammatically plural Hebrew word used for God, gods or divine beings. The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary interprets its plural form when referring to God as expressing grandeur rather than multiple identities.From: PowellAll terms → demanding the sacrifice and YHWH's messenger stopping it, finds rescue from human sacrifice central in Syro-Canaanite and Egyptian imagery, and criticises comparisons that credit Israel alone with ending the practice.^{17 sources}17 sources2. Genesis 22:2 4. Genesis 22:12 5. Genesis 22:13 68. Genesis 22:15–16 39. Skinner 1910 76. Danam 2018 77. Danam 2018 78. Yoreh 2014 79. Yoreh 2014 80. Staubli 2009 40. Staubli 2009 11. Driver 1904 57. Driver 1904 81. Gunkel 1901 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)63. Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 4a (William Davidson Edition; Sefaria, CC BY-NC)38. Lombaard 2013

P1. God commands Isaac as a burnt offering; the angel stops Abraham, who offers a ram in Isaac's place without being told to, and the oath rewards him for not withholding his son. The story contains no word repudiating human sacrifice.^{5 sources}5 sources2. Genesis 22:2 4. Genesis 22:12 5. Genesis 22:13 68. Genesis 22:15–16 39. Skinner 1910No listed response challenges this premise
P2. A story that rewards readiness to sacrifice a son, and spares this son without condemning the practice, does not teach that child sacrifice is wrong.

→ Conclusion. The binding is not a lesson against child sacrifice; it honours the willingness to give a son, and spares only this one.

Strongest responses

Academic (critical) challenges P2

A lesson for all time. Driver quotes Dillmann that the narrative secures for all time, in contrast to CanaaniteCanaaniteAn inhabitant of ancient Canaan, a territory the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary describes as including parts of present-day Israel, the occupied territories and Lebanon.From: PowellAll terms → practice, the knowledge that God does not demand human sacrifices.¹¹

Protestant: Anglican challenges P2

Commanded, but not exacted. Driver wrote that the sacrifice, though commanded, was not exacted, and that this showed once for all that the God of Israel did not demand human sacrifices.⁵⁷

Academic (critical) challenges P2

A story of why a ram replaced a child. Gunkel read the chapter as a legend explaining why a ram rather than a child was sacrificed at a sanctuary he named Jeruel. Skinner, despite his objection, thought it not improbable that the story began as a legend explaining the substitution of animal for human sacrifice at an ancient sanctuary.^{81 39}

Jewish: rabbinic challenges P2

Slaughter was never intended. Genesis Rabbah has God say he did not command Abraham to slaughter Isaac but to take him up. The Talmud (Taanit 4a) reads Jeremiah 19:5 as referring to Mesha, Jephthah and Isaac, applying 'nor did it come into my heart' to Isaac.^{28 63}

Academic (critical) challenges the framing

The purpose depends on the reconstructed setting. Lombaard summarises five historical-critical settings proposed for the story, among them an early text warning against or ending child sacrifice and a theodicy that is a precursor to Job.³⁸

Plain assessment

The text spares Isaac and substitutes a ram without a command, but states no general rule, as Skinner notes. Dillmann and Driver read the withdrawn command as teaching once for all that God does not demand human sacrifice; Gunkel, with Skinner's hedged agreement, reads an origin story for animal substitution; Genesis Rabbah and Taanit hold that the slaughter was never God's intent. Against these, Levenson, as Danam reports, doubts an evolution from human to animal sacrifice, Yoreh reconstructs an earlier ending in which Abraham sacrifices Isaac, and Staubli finds the rescue motif in neighbouring imagery. Lombaard lists five proposed settings; the cited scholarship does not settle which is right.

What would change this assessment: Evidence for the story's earliest form, setting and use.

Assessment uses: Gen.22.11-Gen.22.12 · Gen.22.13-Gen.22.14 · Gen.22.15-Gen.22.18 · Academic (critical) · Protestant: Anglican · Jewish: rabbinic · The story was first told to reject child sacrifice. · How the chapter took shape

Was Isaac an adult who freely agreed to the sacrifice?

Genesis states neither Isaac's age nor his consent; the willing adult comes from later retellings and from arguments like Genesis Rabbah's, while Ibn Ezra read a boy near thirteen bound against his will.

See the argument

The strongest case

Genesis gives neither an age nor consent. Ibn Ezra would accept the sages' thirty-seven if it is a tradition, but thinks it more likely that Isaac was close to thirteen and was bound against his will. De Andrado lists Isaac's being told of the sacrifice and his consent among features of later Jewish retellings absent from Genesis, and Mbuvi reports that Isaac's age is disputed, with some suggesting a small child. The ages in the tradition do not agree: Josephus gives twenty-five, Etheridge's translation of Pseudo-Jonathan thirty-six, Genesis Rabbah thirty-seven with a variant of twenty-six.^{14 sources}14 sources82. Genesis 22:6 3. Genesis 22:9 23. this site's data 25. Josephus 32. Ezra 35. Andrado 2017 36. Andrado 2017 24. Mbuvi 26. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)27. Andrado 2011 28. Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)31. Rashi 33. Rashi 16. Bible

P1. Isaac carries the wood and asks a question, which Abraham answers, and at the altar Abraham binds him; Genesis gives Isaac no words of consent, and its word for him, na'ar, is also used of Ishmael and of the servants, so it does not fix his age.^{5 sources}5 sources82. Genesis 22:6 83. Genesis 22:8 3. Genesis 22:9 23. this site's data 25. JosephusNo listed response challenges this premise
P2. So a willing adult Isaac is not in Genesis; his age and consent come from later retellings and inferences.

→ Conclusion. Genesis's Isaac is a bound son whose age and consent are unknown; the willing adult is a later reading.

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Genesis gives neither an age nor consent, and its word for Isaac is also used of servants and of Ishmael. The figures differ by source: Josephus twenty-five, followed by Insight on the Scriptures as 'perhaps 25'; Etheridge's Pseudo-Jonathan thirty-six and De Andrado's thirty-seven, for a reason not established; Genesis Rabbah thirty-seven with a variant of twenty-six; Rashi thirty-seven, by assuming Sarah died at the binding; Ibn Ezra close to thirteen. Genesis Rabbah and Insight argue from an adult's strength to consent, Rashi finds understanding in Abraham's answer, and Ibn Ezra reads an unwilling boy.

What would change this assessment: An age or words of assent stated in the narrative itself.

Assessment uses: Gen.22.6-Gen.22.8 · Gen.22.9 · boy / lad / servant · Isaac's age at the binding can be fixed at thirty-seven. · In Genesis, Isaac knowingly consents to being sacrificed. · Jewish: medieval commentator · Jewish: medieval commentator · Jewish: rabbinic · Jehovah's Witnesses

Was the son to be sacrificed Isaac or Ishmael?

Genesis names Isaac; the Qur'an names no one, and Islamic commentators have identified the son both ways, Ibn Kathir as Ishmael and the early commentators reported by Andi and Ahmad as Isaac.

See the argument

The strongest case

Ibn Kathir holds that the son was Ishmael, the first son of whom Abraham was given glad tidings and older than Isaac, and accuses the People of the Book of inserting Isaac's name; his argument rests on 'only son' and 'firstborn'. He reports Muhammad ibn Ka'b al-Qurazi's argument that God would not command the sacrifice of Isaac after promising that Isaac would have a son, Jacob.^{7 sources}7 sources2. Genesis 22:2 41. (translator)42. (translator)43. Kathir 44. Andi 2024 84. Rashi 9. Genesis 21:12–14

P1. Genesis names Isaac in the command; the Qur'an's sacrifice passage (37:99–111) does not name the son, and good news of Isaac follows it at 37:112.^{2 41 42}No listed response challenges this premise
P2. Isaac cannot be the son meant: only the firstborn, Ishmael, fits 'only son', and God would not order the sacrifice of a son whose own son, Jacob, had already been promised.

→ Conclusion. The son to be sacrificed was Ishmael.

Strongest responses

Islamic challenges the conclusion

The early commentators named Isaac. Andi and Ahmad argue that in the first four centuries of Islam commentators such as al-Suddi, Muqatil ibn Sulayman, al-Tabari and al-Samarqandi held that Isaac was the intended sacrifice, and that the Ishmael view became orthodox with Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathir.⁴⁴

Jewish: medieval commentator challenges P2

Each son was the only son of his mother. Rashi explains 'your son, your only son' as a dialogue in which Abraham objects that he has two sons, each the only son of his mother, and loves both, before God names Isaac.⁸⁴

Academic (critical) challenges P2

The only son left at home. Driver, quoting Dillmann, explains 'only son' as the son who alone remains after Ishmael's dismissal in Genesis 21.⁹

Plain assessment

Genesis names Isaac in the command itself. The Qur'an's sacrifice passage names no one, and good news of Isaac follows it; Ibn Kathir argues for Ishmael, reports al-Qurazi's argument from that order and the promise of Jacob, and holds that Isaac's name was inserted. Andi and Ahmad argue that early commentators, al-Tabari among them, held that Isaac was meant, and that the Ishmael identification became orthodox later. On Genesis's 'only son', Rashi has Abraham object that each son is the only son of his mother, and Dillmann, quoted by Driver, explains it by Ishmael's dismissal. The Qur'an's naming of Isaac after the passage does not by itself identify the son.

What would change this assessment: An explicit naming of the son within the Qur'an's sacrifice passage.

Assessment uses: Gen.22.1-Gen.22.2 · only one / beloved · Islamic · Islamic · The son to be sacrificed in the Qur'an is Ishmael. · The son through whom the promise runs

Background

The son through whom the promise runs Text

Just before the test, God tells Abraham that his offspring will be named through Isaac, and Abraham sends Hagar and her son away. By Genesis's figures Abraham was eighty-six when Ishmael was born and a hundred when Isaac was. Calvin reads the command as drawing Abraham into a contest with God's own word, since it contradicted the promise.^{4 sources}4 sources9. Genesis 21:12–14 85. Genesis 21:5 86. Genesis 16:16 67. Calvin

Moriah and the Temple Scholarship

Moriah occurs in only two verses of the tagged Hebrew BibleHebrew BibleA name academics offered as a neutral alternative to “Old Testament”. Amy-Jill Levine argues the label blurs real differences between the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh.From: LevineAll terms →: Genesis 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:1, which puts Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah without mentioning Abraham. JubileesJubileesA retelling of Genesis and part of Exodus as a revelation. The Jewish Encyclopedia (1904) dated its writing to 135–105 BCE; the Israel Antiquities Authority reports Hebrew copies found at Qumran.From: Toy; Toy; AuthorityAll terms → identifies the place as Mount Zion; Josephus says it was the mountain where David afterwards built the temple; Rashi identifies it with Jerusalem. Driver calls the region otherwise unknown, Skinner asks which of the two books took the name from the other, and Prudky reads Moriah as a wordplay rather than a place-name.^{8 sources}8 sources17. this site's data 18. 2 Chronicles 3:1 87. Jubilees 18:13 25. Josephus 84. Rashi 20. Driver 1904 21. Skinner 1910 22. Prudky 2024

Child sacrifice elsewhere in the Bible Text

2 Kings 3:27 has the king of Moab offer his firstborn heir as a burnt offering on the wall. Leviticus forbids giving offspring to Molech, and Jeremiah condemns burning sons and daughters as something God did not command. Exodus 22:29 claims firstborn sons for God; 34:20 requires their redemption. As Danam reports, Levenson holds that at some point Israelites did or would have asked to sacrifice their children, though not regularly, while Milgrom argues that any child sacrifice in Israel was reserved for exceptional circumstances.^{9 sources}9 sources88. 2 Kings 3:27 89. Leviticus 18:21 90. Leviticus 20:2–5 91. Jeremiah 7:31 92. Jeremiah 19:5 93. Exodus 22:29 94. Exodus 34:20 95. Danam 2018 96. Danam 2018

Show 3 more background topics (Retellings expand the test; What follows the binding; How the chapter took shape)

Retellings expand the test Scholarship

Jubilees, which De Andrado dates to 160–150 BCE, has the prince Mastema propose the test after Abraham is praised in heaven; the Talmud (Sanhedrin 89b) gives Satan a similar accusation. De Andrado reports that the fragmentary Qumran text 4Q225 also opens with Mastema and adds weeping angels; its copy is dated by its handwriting to 30 BCE–20 CE, which dates the manuscript, not the story. 4 Maccabees makes Isaac a model for martyrs.^{7 sources}7 sources97. Jubilees 17:15–16 35. Andrado 2017 98. Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 89b (William Davidson Edition; Sefaria, CC BY-NC)99. Andrado 2011 100. Andrado 2011 101. 4 Maccabees 13:12 102. 4 Maccabees 16:20

What follows the binding Tradition

After a notice about Nahor's family, Genesis records Sarah's death at Hebron, aged 127, without giving a cause; Abraham had settled at Beersheba and comes to mourn her. Rashi links her death to the shock of the news; Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer has Sammael tell her that Abraham had slain Isaac. Josephus instead has father and son return to Sarah and live happily. Genesis records no further divine speech to Abraham; the Netziv reads this as the completion of his greatness.^{8 sources}8 sources10. Genesis 23:1–2 48. Genesis 22:19 103. Genesis 23:2 53. Rashi 54. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 32 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain)25. Josephus 55. Genesis 23:1–25:10 56. Netziv)

How the chapter took shape Scholarship

In the Hebrew, verses 1–10 use only Elohim ('God'), and the name YHWH enters with the angel in verse 11. Driver assigned verses 1–13 and 19 to the Elohist source, pointing to the use of 'God', and judged 14–18 probably a compiler's addition; Skinner took 15–18 as a redactor's supplement. Staubli reads the change of names as a reminder of pre-monotheistic religion. Cassuto, as quoted by Abela, explained such alternation by the names' meanings and literary convention.^{5 sources}5 sources104. this site's data 11. Driver 1904 12. Skinner 1910 80. Staubli 2009 105. Abela 1992

Where translations differ

Text

Where the wording in different Bibles diverges, and why.

Genesis 22:1 · “tempt / prove / test”

English versions render God's action differently: the KJV and Douay-Rheims 'tempt', the Geneva Bible and JPS 1917 'prove', Young's Literal 'tried', the BSB 'tested'. Driver explains that 'tempt' in older English, like the Latin tentare, meant to test or prove someone, not to entice them into wrongdoing.^{106 107}

Compare the versions

KJVAnd it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

BSBSome time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:2 · Genesis 22:12 · Genesis 22:16 · “only one / beloved” yachid

In Genesis the word yachid, 'only (one)', occurs only in these three verses, each time of Isaac; where the Hebrew has 'your only one', the SeptuagintSeptuagintAn ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, also including books Christians call Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books, according to Jannes Smith.From: Smith; SmithAll terms → has 'beloved'. Ishmael has just been sent away. Driver, quoting Dillmann, explains 'only son' as the one who alone remains after Ishmael's dismissal; Rashi has Abraham object that he has two sons, each the only son of his mother.^{4 sources}4 sources108. this site's data 109. this site's data 9. Genesis 21:12–14 84. Rashi

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:2 · “the land of Moriah”

The ancient versions render the name very differently: the Septuagint 'the high land', the Douay-Rheims after the VulgateVulgateA Latin Bible closely associated with Jerome, with contributions from other translators. Dionisio Candido writes that it was the official Bible of Western Christianity for centuries.From: CandidoAll terms → 'the land of vision', Targum Onkelos 'the land of worship', and the PeshittaPeshittaAn ancient Syriac version of the Old and New Testaments used in Syriac churches. The Jewish Encyclopedia explains its name as “the simple one”.From: HirschAll terms →, as Driver reports, 'of the Amorites'.^{110 111 20}

Open in compare →

Show 6 more translation notes (“boy / lad / servant”, “provide”, “binding / Akedah”…)

Genesis 22:5 · Genesis 22:12 · “boy / lad / servant” na'ar

The same word is used of Isaac in 22:5 and 22:12, of Abraham's servants in 22:3 and 22:19, and of Ishmael in Genesis 21. BDB gives the senses 'boy, lad, youth' and 'servant, retainer'. The word alone does not fix Isaac's age.²³

Genesis 22:5

BSB“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.”

KJVAnd Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

Genesis 22:12

BSB“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

KJVAnd he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:8 · “provide”

Driver notes that 'provide' is literally 'see (that is, look out) for himself', and that the ambiguous words leave room for a silent hope that Isaac might be spared. Rashi reads a conditional disclosure: God will choose a lamb, and if there is none, 'my son' will be the offering, so that Isaac understood. Lombaard says Abraham misleads Isaac here.^{4 sources}4 sources83. Genesis 22:8 112. Driver 1904 33. Rashi 61. Lombaard 2013

Genesis 22:8

BSBAbraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together.

KJVAnd Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:9 · “binding / Akedah” aqad

The verb 'aqad, 'bind', occurs only here in the tagged Hebrew Bible, and gives the story its Jewish name, the Akedah. Driver says that in post-biblical Hebrew it means binding the bent legs of a sacrificial animal.^{113 114 3}

Genesis 22:9

BSBWhen they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood.

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

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:13 · “behind / one ram”

A BSB footnote says most Masoretic manuscripts read 'behind', while other Hebrew manuscripts, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Septuagint and the Syriac read 'one ram'. Driver says the two readings differ by letters often confused and the difference in sense is inappreciable.^{115 114}

Genesis 22:13

BSBThen Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

KJVAnd Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:14 · “YHWH-yireh”

English editions render the saying differently: 'it shall be seen' (KJV), 'it will be provided' (BSB, WEB), 'it shall be provided' (ASV), 'where the LORD is seen' (JPS 1917), 'the Lord will see' (Douay-Rheims). Driver takes the saying as a proverb used in connection with the Temple, ambiguous and not matching the name it explains.^{116 117 114}

Genesis 22:14

BSBAnd Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

KJVAnd Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

Open in compare →

Genesis 22:18 · “be blessed / bless themselves”

Driver argues that the Hebrew form is certainly reflexive, 'shall bless themselves', and that the Septuagint's passive, followed in Acts 3:25, is inexact. Most English versions in the database print the passive 'be blessed'.^{65 6}

Genesis 22:18

BSBAnd through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

KJVAnd in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Open in compare →

How it has been interpreted

Tradition

How different traditions have read the story, in their own terms.

Jewish: rabbinic · A command to bring Isaac up

In Genesis Rabbah 56, God answers Abraham that he did not say to slaughter Isaac, but to take him up. The Talmud (Taanit 4a) reads the words of Jeremiah 19:5 'nor did it come into my heart' as referring to Isaac.^{28 63}

Jewish: rabbinic · Isaac asks to be bound

Genesis Rabbah 56 has Isaac ask to be bound well, and asks whether anyone could bind a man of thirty-seven (variant: twenty-six) without his consent. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and, in De Andrado's translation, Targum Neofiti give Isaac the same plea, so that he does not tremble or kick and make the offering unfit.^{28 34 118}

Jewish: rabbinic · Ten trials withstood

Mishnah Avot 5:3 says Abraham was tried with ten trials and withstood them all, to show how great his love was. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31 says Isaac's soul fled when the blade touched his neck and returned at the voice forbidding harm.^{72 29}

Show 28 more interpretations (Jewish: medieval commentator, Jewish: modern, Early church: Greek…)

Jewish: medieval commentator · Shared readiness and a promised return

Rashi reads Abraham's answer about the lamb as telling Isaac that, if no lamb appears, he will be the offering; Isaac understood, and they walked on with the same ready heart. Rashi reads Abraham's 'we will come back' as a prophecy that both would return.^{33 119}

Jewish: medieval commentator · A younger Isaac bound unwillingly

Ibn Ezra would accept the sages' thirty-seven if it is a tradition, but thinks it more likely that Isaac was close to thirteen and was bound against his will. He says Isaac is not named in 22:19 because he was under Abraham's care, and that those who say Abraham slaughtered Isaac, who then revived, contradict Scripture.^{32 50}

Jewish: medieval commentator · Readiness becomes a deed

Ramban explains that for God a trial brings a deed from potential into actuality, so that the person is rewarded for the act itself; God tries only the righteous, for their good.⁷¹

Jewish: medieval commentator · An example of devotion and prophetic certainty

Maimonides says 'now I know' means that all people shall learn how far the fear of God must go. He gives a second purpose: Abraham's readiness shows that prophets held what came to them in prophetic vision to be true beyond doubt.⁷⁰

Jewish: medieval commentator · A rebuke for an earlier covenant

Rashbam, in Munk's translation, connects the test to Abraham's covenant with Abimelech, which angered God, and reads 'God tested Abraham' as God rebuking or grieving him.⁶⁹

Jewish: modern · Silence as completion

The Netziv says that with the binding Abraham's greatness was completed, so that from then on God did not speak with him.⁵⁶

Jewish: modern · Children are not possessions

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks proposed that the test was not whether Abraham would sacrifice Isaac but whether he would renounce ownership of him, establishing that children are not their parents' property. He argued that Jews must reject what he called Kierkegaard's 'teleological suspension of the ethical', which gives carte blanche to religious fanatics.⁶⁶

Jewish: modern · The voice that leads back to ethics

As quoted by Lipszyc, Emmanuel Levinas called Abraham's attentiveness to the voice that led him back to the ethical order, forbidding human sacrifice, the highest point of the drama.⁷⁴

Jewish: modern · A voice may be misidentified

Lipszyc quotes Buber's 'On the Suspension of the Ethical': Moloch imitates the voice of God, and what God demands of ordinary people is justice, love and walking humbly with him, 'not of Abraham, His chosen one, but of you and me'.⁷⁵

Early church: Greek · Willing Isaac and the rescuing ram

Clement of Rome says Isaac, with perfect confidence as if knowing what was to happen, cheerfully yielded himself as a sacrifice. Melito of Sardis wrote that the ram, appearing in Isaac's place, redeemed him from death, as the Lord, being slain, saved us. Pasca-Tusa reports that OrigenOrigenA Christian scholar and teacher of Alexandria, born in 185 and deceased probably in 253 or 254, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Marco Rizzi explains that he interpreted the Septuagint allegorically, like Philo.From: Prat; Prat; Prat; Rizzi; PratAll terms → saw both Isaac and the ram as prefiguring Jesus.^{120 121 122}

Early church: Latin · Isaac's wood points to Christ

Tertullian says Isaac, led as a victim and carrying his own wood, was even then pointing to Christ's death; he also compares the ram's horns caught in the bramble to Christ on the cross.¹²³

Early church: Latin · Obedience with resurrection hope

Augustine says Abraham could never believe that God delighted in human sacrifices, but obeyed, believing his son would rise again; Hebrews 11:17–19 likewise reads the offering through faith in resurrection.^{64 58}

Catholic · God's authority over life

Aquinas argued that when Abraham consented to slay his son he did not consent to murder, because God, who is Lord of life and death, commanded it.⁸

Catholic · A final purification of faith

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (§2572) presents the sacrifice as a final purification of Abraham's faith, conforming him to the Father who would not spare his own Son.¹²⁴

Orthodox · Isaac as a figure of Christ

Pasca-Tusa, writing from a Romanian Orthodox faculty, says the Church Fathers consider Isaac a type of Christ and his sacrifice a prefiguration of the Son of God's sacrifice on the cross. The Orthodox Church in America's readings for Great and Holy Saturday include Genesis 22:1–18.^{125 126}

Protestant: Reformed · Command against promise

Calvin wrote that God tested Abraham not in the usual way but by drawing him into a contest with God's own word, since the command contradicted the promise through Isaac.^{67 9}

Protestant: Lutheran · Faith that God could restore Isaac

Walsh reports that Luther agrees with Hebrews that Abraham's belief in resurrection is what enabled him to pass the test.^{73 58}

Protestant: Anglican · A historical explanation and a present moral limit

Driver argued that Abraham could recognise the command as divine because child sacrifice was common in his age, but that today such a command would be condemned as a violation of conscience. The sacrifice, though commanded, was not exacted, which he says showed once for all that the God of Israel did not demand human sacrifices.^{65 57}

Philosophy · Moral certainty against an uncertain voice

Kant (1798) wrote that Abraham should have answered the supposed divine voice that he is quite certain he ought not to kill his good son, but is not and cannot become certain that the apparition is God, even if the voice resounds from visible heaven.^{7 46}

Skeptic/secular · The command itself is the objection

The deist Thomas Morgan (1737), as Sherwood quotes him, found it absolutely incredible that God should make it a man's duty to act against all the principles of human nature. Robert Ingersoll (1879) wrote that, if the Bible is true, a murder would have been committed had God not stopped Abraham at the right moment.^{46 47}

Skeptic/secular · A test case against religion

Lombaard notes that the morality of any religion tied to such a godhead can be called into question, as Richard Dawkins has done. Hindy and Khan report that New Atheist writers such as Christopher Hitchens attacked the story as the prime example of what is wrong with religion.^{61 62}

Academic (critical) · Johannes de silentio's contradiction

Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, written as Johannes de silentio, says the ethical expression for what Abraham did is that he wanted to murder Isaac, the religious that he wanted to sacrifice him. Lippitt and Evans explain that the book asks whether faith contains a 'teleological suspension of the ethical', and warn against taking its views as Kierkegaard's own, since its author claims not to understand Abraham. For the book, they write, the measure of Abraham's faith is his trust that he will receive Isaac back in this life.^{60 59}

Academic (critical) · A rejection of child sacrifice?

Driver quotes Dillmann that the narrative secures for all time the knowledge that God does not demand human sacrifices. Gunkel read it as a legend explaining why a ram rather than a child was sacrificed at a sanctuary, and Skinner thought that not improbable, while objecting that the story contains no word repudiating human sacrifice. Levenson, as Danam reports, doubts that it shows an evolution from human to animal sacrifice, and Yoreh argues that the earliest version ended with Abraham sacrificing Isaac.^{6 sources}6 sources11. Driver 1904 81. Gunkel 1901 39. Skinner 1910 76. Danam 2018 78. Yoreh 2014 79. Yoreh 2014

Islamic · A consulted son and a fulfilled vision

In the Qur'an (37:102), Abraham tells his son he has seen in a dream that he must sacrifice him and asks what he thinks; the son tells him to do as he is commanded. God calls to Abraham that he has already fulfilled the vision, calls it a clear test, and ransoms the son with 'a tremendous victim', without naming a ram. Asma Barlas points out that the Qur'an does not say Abraham binds his son's body.^{5 sources}5 sources41. (translator)127. (translator)128. (translator)129. (translator)130. Barlas 2011

Islamic · Competing identifications of the son

Ibn Kathir holds that the son was Ishmael, the first son promised and older than Isaac, accuses the People of the Book of inserting Isaac's name, and reports al-Qurazi's argument from the promise of a son, Jacob, to Isaac. Andi and Ahmad argue that early commentators, among them al-Tabari, held that Isaac was meant, and that the Ishmael view became orthodox with Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathir.^{43 44}

Islamic · A prophet's certain knowledge

Hindy and Khan argue that critics misread the story, since Abraham, as a prophet, had certain knowledge both that God commanded the act and that God's will is good.⁴⁵

Latter-day Saints · A likeness of the Father and Son

The Book of Mormon (Jacob 4:5) calls Abraham's offering of Isaac a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.¹³¹

Jehovah's Witnesses · A possible age from Josephus

Insight on the Scriptures says Isaac was offered up 'at perhaps 25', citing Josephus, and that he was strong enough to have resisted his 125-year-old father.¹⁶

Where it fits

Genesis 22:1 — The narrator tells readers from the start that God is testing Abraham. The chapter does not say Abraham was told beforehand.¹
Genesis 22:2 — God sends Abraham to Moriah with a command that describes his son four ways, ending with his name.²
Genesis 22:8 — Abraham answers Isaac's question. Driver reads his reply as leaving room for an unspoken hope; Rashi reads it as telling Isaac he may be the offering.^{83 112 33}

Show 2 more key verses

Genesis 22:12 — The angel tells Abraham not to harm the boy. By not withholding his son, the angel says, Abraham has shown that he fears God.⁴
Genesis 22:13 — A ram is offered in the son's place. The text gives no command to make this substitution.⁵

Where else the Bible mentions it

Text

Genesis 21:12–14 God tells Abraham that his offspring will be named through Isaac, and Hagar and her son are sent away; Calvin reads the command as contradicting this promise.
^21:12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned. ¹³But I will also make a nation of the slave woman’s son, because he is your offspring.” ¹⁴Early in the morning, Abraham got up, took bread and a skin of water, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her away with the boy. She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
Read in context →
2 Chronicles 3:1 Chronicles places Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah without mentioning Abraham; Rashi cites it to identify the binding's location with Jerusalem.
¹Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. This was the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Read in context →
Hebrews 11:17–19 Hebrews says Abraham offered Isaac by faith, reasoning that God could raise the dead, and figuratively received him back.
^11:17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.
Read in context →

Show 6 more passages

James 2:21–23 James says Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac, and that his faith was completed by his works.
^2:21Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²²You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did. ²³And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
Read in context →
Jeremiah 19:5 Jeremiah condemns burning children as something God did not command; the Talmud (Taanit 4a) applies the verse's last clause to Isaac.
⁵They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.
Read in context →
Micah 6:7–8 Micah asks whether the LORD wants a firstborn given for transgression, and answers with justice, mercy and walking humbly with God; Genesis Rabbah reads the question as alluding to Isaac.
^6:7Would the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Read in context →
Exodus 34:20 Exodus 22:29 claims the firstborn of sons for God, while Exodus 34:20 requires every firstborn son to be redeemed.
²⁰You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.
Read in context →
2 Kings 3:27 The king of Moab offers his firstborn heir as a burnt offering on the wall; the Talmud (Taanit 4a) sets Mesha, Jephthah and Isaac side by side.
²⁷So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him, and offered him as a burnt offering on the city wall. And there was great fury against the Israelites, so they withdrew and returned to their own land.
Read in context →
Judges 11:30–39 Jephthah's vow brings his only child, a daughter, to be offered, and the narrative says he did as he had vowed without describing the act. In Pseudo-Philo she recalls Isaac as a son who was glad to be offered.
^11:30Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹then whatever comes out the door of my house to greet me on my triumphant return from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.” ³²So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the LORD delivered them into his hand. ³³With a great blow he devastated twenty cities from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel-keramim. So the Ammonites were subdued before the Israelites. ³⁴And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her. ³⁵As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.” ³⁶“My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.” ³⁷She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.” ³⁸“Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains. ³⁹After two months, she returned to her father, and he did to her as he had vowed. And she had never had relations with a man. So it has become a custom in Israel
Read in context →

Test your understanding

What is offered in Isaac's place?

A ram caught by its horns in a thicket.⁵

Genesis 22:13

Does Genesis give Isaac's age or his consent to the sacrifice?

Neither. Isaac carries the wood and asks a question, but the narrative gives no age and no explicit consent.^{82 23 25}

Genesis 22:6 Genesis 22:7 Genesis 22:9

Does the return verse say Isaac was absent?

It does not name Isaac, but it does not say he was absent.^{48 49}

Genesis 22:19

Does the Qur'an's sacrifice passage name the son?

No. It leaves the son unnamed; good news of Isaac follows the passage.^{41 42}

The full text

Text

Genesis 22:1–19

^22:1Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered. ²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” ³So Abraham got up early the next morning, saddled his donkey, and took along two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had designated. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵“Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told his servants. “The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will return to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. He himself carried the fire and the sacrificial knife, and the two of them walked on together.

Continue reading (13 more verses)

^22:7Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” “Here I am, my son,” he replied. “The fire and the wood are here,” said Isaac, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two walked on together. ⁹When they arrived at the place God had designated, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar, atop the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. ¹¹Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. ¹²“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” ¹³Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” ¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, ¹⁶saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, ¹⁷I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. ¹⁸And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they got up and set out together for Beersheba. And Abraham settled in Beersheba.

Read it in the chapter reader →Compare translations and the original words →

Keep going

Jonah and the great fish

Ancient art took up the binding, from the third-century Dura-Europos synagogue to the San Vitale mosaic in Ravenna.^{132 133}

Cite this page

Plain citation

The binding of Isaac (the Akedah). Know the Text. Question lens, version 2, revised 2026-11-08, Fact-checked. https://knowthetext.com/question/stories/binding-of-isaac/

Chicago-style note

Know the Text, “The binding of Isaac (the Akedah),” Question lens, version 2, revised 2026-11-08, Fact-checked, https://knowthetext.com/question/stories/binding-of-isaac/.

BibTeX

@misc{knowthetext-binding-of-isaac,
  author = {{Know the Text}},
  title = {The binding of Isaac (the Akedah)},
  howpublished = {Know the Text, Question lens},
  url = {https://knowthetext.com/question/stories/binding-of-isaac/},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Version 2; revised 2026-11-08; Fact-checked}
}

Sources

133 sources from 98 works

1
Genesis 22:1↩^a ↩^b
2
Genesis 22:2↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g ↩^h
3
Genesis 22:9↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
4
Genesis 22:12↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g ↩^h
5
Genesis 22:13↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
6
Genesis 22:17–18↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
7
Immanuel Kant, Der Streit der Fakultaeten (1798), Akademie-Ausgabe vol. 7 (korpora.org), AA 7:63, footnote↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
8
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae (tr. Fathers of the English Dominican Province), New Advent, I-II q.100 a.8 ad 3↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
9
Genesis 21:12–14↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g
10
Genesis 23:1–2↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
S. R. Driver, The Book of Genesis (Westminster Commentaries) (1904)
- 11
  p. 216↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
- 20
  p. 217↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 57
  p. 222↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
- 65
  p. 221↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
- 107
  p. 217, n. 1↩
- 112
  p. 218↩^a ↩^b
- 114
  p. 219↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
John Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (International Critical Commentary) (1910)
- 12
  p. 331↩^a ↩^b
- 21
  p. 328↩^a ↩^b
- 39
  p. 332↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
13
Steven L. McKenzie, “What Is Source Criticism? (Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature)” (2022), paragraph 4↩
14
Ronald Hendel, “Abraham (Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature)”↩
Hermann Gunkel, The Legends of Genesis (tr. W. H. Carruth) (1901)
- 15
  p. 11↩
- 81
  p. 31↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
16
Jehovah's Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society), Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 2, "Isaac" (wol.jw.org)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
17
Checked in this site's verse database: Verses containing H4179 (TAHOT)↩^a ↩^b
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM (SELECT std_ref, min(id) AS m FROM tokens WHERE root_strong = 'H4179' GROUP BY std_ref ORDER BY m)
18
2 Chronicles 3:1↩^a ↩^b
19
Jehovah's Witnesses (Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society), Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 2, "Moriah" (wol.jw.org)↩
22
Martin Prudky, “The Enigma of the Temple Site and the Word-play 'Moriah', Teologicka reflexe 30 (CC BY)” (2024), Abstract↩^a ↩^b
23
Checked in this site's verse database: Verses of Gen 21-22 containing H5288 (TAHOT)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM (SELECT std_ref, min(id) AS m FROM tokens WHERE root_strong = 'H5288' AND book = 'Gen' AND chapter IN (21, 22) GROUP BY std_ref ORDER BY m)
24
Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi, “Isaac (Bible Odyssey, Society of Biblical Literature)”↩^a ↩^b
25
Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (tr. William Whiston, 1737), Project Gutenberg 2848, 1.13.1-4↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g ↩^h ↩ⁱ ↩^j
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 22 (tr. J. W. Etheridge, 1862; Sefaria, public domain)
- 26
  22:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 34
  22:10↩^a ↩^b
- 52
  22:19↩
Paba Nidhani De Andrado, The Akedah Servant Complex (PhD thesis, Durham University) (2011)
- 27
  Appendix III, p. 213↩^a ↩^b
- 37
  p. 118↩
- 99
  p. 116↩
- 100
  p. 115↩
- 118
  Appendix III, p. 214↩
Bereshit (Genesis) Rabbah 56 (The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022, CC BY)
- 28
  56:8↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g ↩^h ↩ⁱ ↩^j ↩^k
- 51
  56:11↩
29
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 31 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain), ch. 31↩^a ↩^b
30
Seder Olam Rabbah 1 (tr. Zachary Kleiman, Sefaria; licence not stated, quoted briefly), ch. 1↩
31
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 25:20 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929-1934; Sefaria, public domain), on 25:20↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
Abraham ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Genesis 22 (tr. H. N. Strickman and A. M. Silver, Menorah 1988-2004; Sefaria, CC BY-NC)
- 32
  on 22:4-5↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
- 50
  on 22:19↩^a ↩^b
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 22 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929-1934; Sefaria, public domain)
- 33
  on 22:8↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f ↩^g
- 84
  on 22:2↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
- 119
  on 22:5↩
Paba Nidhani De Andrado, “'A Model of Christ': Melito's Re-Vision of Jewish Akedah Exegeses, Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations 12.1” (2017)
- 35
  p. 5↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 36
  p. 6↩^a ↩^b
Christo Lombaard, “Issues in or with Genesis 22: An overview of exegetical issues related to one of the most problematic biblical chapters, Verbum et Ecclesia 34(2), Art. 814 (CC BY)” (2013)
- 38
  p. 3↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 61
  p. 4↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
Thomas Staubli, “Is there an iconographic pattern of the binding of Isaac? Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary 12.2” (2009)
- 40
  Abstract↩^a ↩^b
- 80
  p. 125↩^a ↩^b
- 132
  fig. 14↩
Marmaduke Pickthall (translator), The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), in Three Translations of the Koran side by side, Project Gutenberg 16955
- 41
  37:102↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
- 42
  37:112↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
- 127
  37:105↩
- 128
  37:106↩
- 129
  37:107↩
43
Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged English), on Qur'an 37:99-113 (quran.com tafsir 169), 37:99-113 (single entry)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
44
Azhari Andi and Hamdi Putra Ahmad, “Before Orthodoxy: The Story of Abraham's Sacrifice (Dzabih) in Early Muslim Commentaries, International Journal of Islamic Khazanah 14(1) (CC BY-SA)” (2024), Abstract↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
Ibrahim Hindy and Nazir Khan, “Living Abraham's Legacy: Relevance of Rites and Rituals in the Modern Age (Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research)” (2018)
- 45
  p. 23↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e ↩^f
- 62
  p. 22↩^a ↩^b
46
Yvonne Sherwood, “Grammars of Sacrifice: Futures, Subjunctives, and What Would Have/Could Have Happened on Mount Moriah, Biblical Interpretation (author's manuscript, Kent Academic Repository)” (2017), p. 35↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
47
Robert G. Ingersoll, Some Mistakes of Moses, Project Gutenberg 38099 (1879)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
48
Genesis 22:19↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
49
Checked in this site's verse database: Verses of Gen 22 containing H3327 (TAHOT)↩^a ↩^b
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM (SELECT std_ref, min(id) AS m FROM tokens WHERE root_strong = 'H3327' AND book = 'Gen' AND chapter = 22 GROUP BY std_ref ORDER BY m)
53
Rashi, Rashi on Genesis 23 (tr. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, 1929-1934; Sefaria, public domain), on 23:2↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
54
Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer 32 (tr. Gerald Friedlander, 1916; Sefaria, public domain), ch. 32↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
55
Genesis 23:1–25:10↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
56
Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv), Haamek Davar on Genesis 22 (Sefaria Community Translation, CC0), on 22:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
58
Hebrews 11:17–19↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
59
John Lippitt and C. Stephen Evans, “Søren Kierkegaard, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (first published 22 May 2023)”↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
60
Søren Kierkegaard (as Johannes de silentio), Fear and Trembling, in Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard (tr. Lee M. Hollander), Project Gutenberg 60333 (1923)↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
63
Babylonian Talmud, Taanit 4a (William Davidson Edition; Sefaria, CC BY-NC), 4a↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d ↩^e
64
Augustine, The City of God (NPNF1 vol. 2), New Advent, XVI.32↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
66
Jonathan Sacks, “The Binding of Isaac: A New Interpretation (Covenant & Conversation, Vayera)”↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
67
John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis (tr. John King, 1847), Wikisource, on 22:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
68
Genesis 22:15–16↩^a ↩^b ↩^c ↩^d
69
Rashbam (Samuel ben Meir), Rashbam on Genesis 22 (tr. Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash; Sefaria, CC BY), on 22:1↩^a ↩^b
70
Moses Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed (tr. M. Friedlander, 1903; Sefaria, public domain), III.24↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
71
Ramban (Nachmanides), Commentary on the Torah, Genesis 22 (tr. Charles B. Chavel, 1971; Sefaria, CC BY), on 22:1↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
72
Mishnah Avot 5:3 (Mishnah Yomit, tr. Joshua Kulp; Sefaria, CC BY), 5:3↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
73
Carey Ellen Walsh, “Christian Theological Interpretations of God's Grace in the Binding of Isaac, Perichoresis 10.1” (2012), p. 44↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
Adam Lipszyc, “Silence Inscribed: Derrida Reading Rosenzweig, While Reading Kierkegaard, Bamidbar: Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy” (2011)
- 74
  p. 100↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
- 75
  p. 99↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
Gnanadas Danam, The Sacrifice of the Firstborn in Hebrew Scriptures (PhD thesis, University of Leeds) (2018)
- 76
  p. 211↩^a ↩^b
- 77
  p. 98↩
- 95
  p. 48↩
- 96
  p. 49↩
Tzemah Yoreh, “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Context: Recovering a Lost Ending of the Akedah (TheTorah.com; only the teaser and notes are in the saved text)” (2014)
- 78
  teaser↩^a ↩^b
- 79
  footnotes↩^a ↩^b
82
Genesis 22:6↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
83
Genesis 22:8↩^a ↩^b ↩^c
85
Genesis 21:5↩
86
Genesis 16:16↩
87
Jubilees 18:13↩
88
2 Kings 3:27↩
89
Leviticus 18:21↩
90
Leviticus 20:2–5↩
91
Jeremiah 7:31↩
92
Jeremiah 19:5↩
93
Exodus 22:29↩
94
Exodus 34:20↩
97
Jubilees 17:15–16↩
98
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 89b (William Davidson Edition; Sefaria, CC BY-NC), 89b↩
101
4 Maccabees 13:12↩
102
4 Maccabees 16:20↩
103
Genesis 23:2↩
104
Checked in this site's verse database: Elohim (H0430G) and YHWH (H3068G) tokens in Gen 22:1-19↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref || ':' || root_strong, ',') FROM (SELECT std_ref, root_strong FROM tokens WHERE book = 'Gen' AND chapter = 22 AND verse <= 19 AND root_strong IN ('H0430G', 'H3068G') ORDER BY id)
105
Anthony Abela, quoting Umberto Cassuto, The Documentary Hypothesis (1961), p. 41, “Umberto Cassuto's The Documentary Hypothesis: Thirty Years Later (Melita Theologica 43.2)” (1992), p. 67↩
106
Checked in this site's verse database: Gen 22:1 in six editions↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(work_id || ': ' || text, ' | ') FROM verses WHERE std_ref = 'Gen.22.1' AND work_id IN ('kjv', 'drc', 'geneva1599', 'jps1917', 'ylt', 'bsb')
108
Checked in this site's verse database: Genesis verses containing H3173 (TAHOT)↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM (SELECT std_ref, min(id) AS m FROM tokens WHERE root_strong = 'H3173' AND book = 'Gen' GROUP BY std_ref ORDER BY m)
109
Checked in this site's verse database: Gen 22 verses in the Greek Septuagint containing agap-↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM verses WHERE work_id = 'lxx-brenton-gr' AND book = 'Gen' AND chapter = 22 AND text LIKE '%ἀγαπ%'
110
Checked in this site's verse database: Gen 22:2 in Brenton and Douay-Rheims↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(work_id || ': ' || text, ' | ') FROM verses WHERE std_ref = 'Gen.22.2' AND work_id IN ('brenton', 'drc')
111
Targum Onkelos on Genesis 22 (Metsudah Chumash translation, 2009; Sefaria, CC BY-NC), 22:2↩
113
Checked in this site's verse database: Verses containing H6123 (TAHOT)↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(std_ref, ',') FROM (SELECT DISTINCT std_ref FROM tokens WHERE root_strong = 'H6123')
115
Checked in this site's verse database: BSB footnote on Gen 22:13↩
How this was derived
SELECT n.body FROM verse_notes n JOIN verses v ON v.id = n.verse_id WHERE v.work_id = 'bsb' AND v.std_ref = 'Gen.22.13' AND n.kind = 'footnote'
116
Genesis 22:14↩
117
Checked in this site's verse database: Gen 22:14 in six editions↩
How this was derived
SELECT group_concat(work_id || ': ' || text, ' | ') FROM verses WHERE std_ref = 'Gen.22.14' AND work_id IN ('kjv', 'bsb', 'web', 'asv', 'jps1917', 'drc')
120
Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians (ANF 9), New Advent, ch. 31↩
121
Melito of Sardis, Fragments, From the Catena on Genesis, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 8 (1916 printing), archive.org, ANF 8, pp. 759-760↩
Stelian Pasca-Tusa, “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Byzantine Art: Christological Perspectives of Interpretation, ROOTS: Romanian Orthodox Old Testament Studies 14.2” (2025)
- 122
  p. 55↩
- 125
  p. 52↩
- 133
  p. 59↩
123
Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews (ANF 3), New Advent, chs. 10 and 13↩
124
Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. (1997), read in the scborromeo.org copy (1997), §2572↩
126
Orthodox Church in America, “Scripture Readings, Saturday, April 11, 2026 (Great and Holy Saturday)”↩
130
Asma Barlas, “Abraham's sacrifice in the Qur'an: beyond the body, Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 23” (2011), p. 55↩
131
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “Book of Mormon, Jacob 4”, Jacob 4:5↩

What the text actually says

Genesis 22:1–2

Genesis 22:5

Genesis 22:6–8

Genesis 22:9

Genesis 22:11–12

Genesis 22:13–14

Genesis 22:15–18

Genesis 22:19

The evidence

The binding happened as an event in Abraham's life.

The binding took place on the site of the later Jerusalem Temple.

Isaac's age at the binding can be fixed at thirty-seven.

In Genesis, Isaac knowingly consents to being sacrificed.

The story was first told to reject child sacrifice.

The son to be sacrificed in the Qur'an is Ishmael.

God's command to Abraham was morally justified.

What people get wrong

Hard questions

How could a good God command a father to sacrifice his son?

The strongest case

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Did Abraham pass the test, or should he have refused?

The strongest case

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Does the story reject child sacrifice, or preserve its logic?

The strongest case

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Was Isaac an adult who freely agreed to the sacrifice?

The strongest case

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Was the son to be sacrificed Isaac or Ishmael?

The strongest case

Strongest responses

Plain assessment

Background

The son through whom the promise runs Text

Moriah and the Temple Scholarship

Child sacrifice elsewhere in the Bible Text

Retellings expand the test Scholarship

What follows the binding Tradition

How the chapter took shape Scholarship

Where translations differ

Genesis 22:1 · “tempt / prove / test”

Genesis 22:2 · Genesis 22:12 · Genesis 22:16 · “only one / beloved” yachid

Genesis 22:2 · “the land of Moriah”

Genesis 22:5 · Genesis 22:12 · “boy / lad / servant” na'ar

Genesis 22:8 · “provide”

Genesis 22:9 · “binding / Akedah” aqad

Genesis 22:13 · “behind / one ram”

Genesis 22:14 · “YHWH-yireh”

Genesis 22:18 · “be blessed / bless themselves”

How it has been interpreted

Jewish: rabbinic · A command to bring Isaac up

Jewish: rabbinic · Isaac asks to be bound

Jewish: rabbinic · Ten trials withstood

Jewish: medieval commentator · Shared readiness and a promised return

Jewish: medieval commentator · A younger Isaac bound unwillingly

Jewish: medieval commentator · Readiness becomes a deed

Jewish: medieval commentator · An example of devotion and prophetic certainty

Jewish: medieval commentator · A rebuke for an earlier covenant

Jewish: modern · Silence as completion

Jewish: modern · Children are not possessions

Jewish: modern · The voice that leads back to ethics

Jewish: modern · A voice may be misidentified

Early church: Greek · Willing Isaac and the rescuing ram

Early church: Latin · Isaac's wood points to Christ

Early church: Latin · Obedience with resurrection hope

Catholic · God's authority over life

Catholic · A final purification of faith

Orthodox · Isaac as a figure of Christ

Protestant: Reformed · Command against promise

Protestant: Lutheran · Faith that God could restore Isaac

Protestant: Anglican · A historical explanation and a present moral limit

Philosophy · Moral certainty against an uncertain voice

Skeptic/secular · The command itself is the objection