World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 22
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After these things, , and said to him, "!" He said, "Here I am." He said, "Now take your son, your only son, , whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of." rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which had told him. On the third day lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far off. said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will , and come back to you." took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son. He took in his hand the and the knife. They both went together. spoke to his , and said, "?" He said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "Here is the and the wood, but where is for a burnt offering?" said, " will provide himself for a burnt offering, my son." So they both went together. They came to the place which had told him of. built the there, and laid the wood in order, bound his son, and laid him on the , on the wood. stretched out his hand, and took the knife to kill his son. called to him out of , and said, ", !" He said, "Here I am." He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you , since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." lifted up his eyes, and looked, and saw that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his . went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. called the name of that place " Will Provide". As it is said to this day, "On mountain, it will be provided." 15 called to a second time out of , and said, "'I have by myself,' , 'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that you greatly, and I will multiply greatly like the stars of , and like the sand which is on the seashore. will possess the of his . All the nations of the earth will be by , because you have .'" So returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to . lived at . After these things, was told, "Behold, , she also has borne children to your brother : his , his brother, Kemuel of , 22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and ." became of . These eight bore to , brother. , whose name was , also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
All of Genesis