አብርሃም ተፈተነ
1ከዚህ ሁሉ በኋላ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) አብርሃምን ፈተነው፤ “አብርሃም!” አለው። እርሱም “አቤቱ አለሁ” አለ።
2እግዚአብሔርም (ኤሎሂም)፣ “የምትወድደውን አንዱን ልጅህን፣ ይስሐቅን ይዘህ ወደ ሞሪያ ምድር ሂድ፤ እኔ በማመለክትህ በአንዱ ተራራ ላይ የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት አድርገህ ሠዋው” አለው።
3በማግስቱም ጧት አብርሃም ማልዶ ተነሣ፤ አህያውን ጭኖ፣ ሁለት አገልጋዮቹንና ልጁን ይስሐቅን ይዞ፣ ለመሥዋዕት የሚበቃውን ዕንጨት ከቈረጠ በኋላ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ወዳመለከተው ቦታ ለመሄድ ጕዞውን ጀመረ፤ 4በሦስተኛው ቀን አብርሃም ቀና ብሎ ቦታውን ከሩቅ ተመለከተ፤ 5አገልጋዮቹንም “እናንተ አህያውን ይዛችሁ እዚህ ቈዩን፤ እኔና ልጄ ግን ወደዚያ ሄደን ለእግዚአብሔር ሰግደን እንመለሳለን” አላቸው።
6አብርሃም ለሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት የሚሆነውን ዕንጨት ወስዶ፣ ልጁን ይስሐቅን አሸከመው፤ እሳቱንና ቢላዋውንም ራሱ ያዘ። ሁለቱም አብረው ሄዱ። 7ይስሐቅም አባቱን አብርሃምን፣ “አባቴ ሆይ” አለው።
አብርሃምም፣ “እነሆኝ፤ አለሁ ልጄ” አለው።
ይስሐቅም፣ “እሳቱና ዕንጨቱ ይኸው፤ ነገር ግን የሚቃጠለው መሥዋዕት የት አለ?” ብሎ ጠየቀ።
8አብርሃምም፣ “ልጄ ሆይ፤ ለሚቃጠለው መሥዋዕት የሚሆነውን በግ እግዚአብሔር ያዘጋጃል (ኤሎሂም ይሬህሎ)” አለው። ሁለቱም አብረው ጕዟቸውን ቀጠሉ።
9እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ወደ አመለከተው ቦታ እንደ ደረሱ፣ አብርሃም መሠዊያ ሠራ፤ በላዩም ላይ ዕንጨት ረበረበ፤ ልጁን ይስሐቅንም አስሮ በመሠዊያው ዕንጨት ላይ አጋደመው። 10ከዚያም ልጁን ለማረድ እጁን ዘርግቶ ቢላዋውን አነሣ። 11የእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) መልአክ ግን ከሰማይ፣ “አብርሃም፤ አብርሃም፤” ብሎ ጠራው፤
አብርሃምም፣ “እነሆ፤ አለሁ” አለ።
12እርሱም፣ “እጅህን በብላቴናው ላይ አታሳርፍ፤ ምንም ጕዳት አታድርስበት፤ እነሆ፤ እግዚአብሔርን (ኤሎሂም) እንደምትፈራ ተረድቻለሁ፤ ልጅህን፣ ያውም አንዱን ልጅህን ለእኔ ለመስጠት አልሳሳህምና” አለው።
13አብርሃም ቀና ብሎ ተመለከተ፤ በቍጥቋጦ መካከልም ቀንዶቹ የተጠላለፉ አንድ አውራ በግ ከበስተ ኋላው አየ፤ ወደዚያው ሄዶ በጉን አመጣና የሚቃጠል መሥዋዕት አድርጎ ሠዋው። 14ከዚህም የተነሣ አብርሃም የዚያን ስፍራ ስም፣ “እግዚአብሔር ያዘጋጃል (ያህዌ ይርኤ)” ብሎ ጠራው፤ እስከ ዛሬም ድረስ፣ “በእግዚአብሔር (ያህዌ) ተራራ ላይ ይዘጋጃል” ይባላል።
15የእግዚአብሔርም (ያህዌ) መልአክ አብርሃምን ከሰማይ ዳግመኛ ጠራው፤ 16እንዲህም አለው፤ “እግዚአብሔርም (ያህዌ) በራሴ ማልሁ አለ፤ አንዱን ልጅህን ለእኔ ለመስጠት አልሳሳህምና፣ 17በርግጥ እባርክሃለሁ፤ ዘርህን እንደ ሰማይ ከዋክብት፣ እንደ ባሕር ዳር አሸዋም አበዛዋለሁ። ዘሮችህም የጠላቶቻቸውን ደጆች ይወርሳሉ፤ 18ቃሌን ስለ ሰማህ የምድር ሕዝቦች ሁሉ በዘርህ ይባረካሉ።”
19ከዚያም አብርሃም ወደ አገልጋዮቹ ተመለሰ፤ ተያይዘውም ወደ ቤርሳቤህ ሄዱ፤ አብርሃምም በቤርሳቤህ ኖረ።
የናኮር ልጆች
20ከዚህ በኋላ እንዲህ ተብሎ ለአብርሃም ተነገረው፤ “ሚልካም ደግሞ የልጆች እናት ሆናለች፤ ለወንድምህም ለናኮር ወንዶች ልጆችን ወልዳለች። 21እነርሱም የበኵር ልጁ ዑፅና ወንድሙ ቡዝ፣ የአራም አባት ቀሙኤል፣ 22ኮዛት፣ ሐዞ፣ ፊልዳሥ፣ የድላፍና ባቱኤል ናቸው።” 23ባቱኤልም ርብቃን ወለደ። ሚልካ ለአብርሃም ወንድም ለናኮር የወለደችለት እነዚህ ስምንት ወንዶች ልጆች ናቸው። 24ከእነዚህም ሌላ የናኮር ቁባት ሬናሕ ደግሞ ጥባሕ፣ ገአም፣ ተሐሽና ሞክሳ የተባሉ ወንዶች ልጆች ወለደችለት።
God Tests Abraham
1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” Abraham replied.
2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son. He is the one you love. Take Isaac. Go to the place called Moriah. Give your son to me there as a burnt offering. Sacrifice him on the mountain I will show you.”
3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took two of his servants and his son Isaac with him. He cut enough wood for the burnt offering. Then he started out for the place God had shown him. 4On the third day Abraham saw the place a long way off. 5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship. Then we’ll come back to you.”
6Abraham had his son Isaac carry the wood for the burnt offering. He himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. 7Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said. “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 of them walked on together.
9They reached the place God had shown Abraham. There Abraham built an altar. He arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son Isaac. Abraham placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he reached out his hand. He picked up the knife to kill his son. 11But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven. He said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” Abraham replied.
12“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not harm him. Now I know that you would do anything for God. You have not held back from me your son, your only son.”
13Abraham looked around. There in a bush he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram. He sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide. To this day people say, “It will be provided on the mountain of the Lord.”
15The angel of the Lord called out to Abraham from heaven a second time. 16He said, “I am giving you my word that I will bless you. I will bless you because of what you have done,” announces the Lord. “You have not held back your son, your only son. 17So I will certainly bless you. I will make the children born into your family as many as the stars in the sky. I will make them as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. They will take over the cities of their enemies. 18All nations on earth will be blessed because of your children. All these things will happen because you have obeyed me.”
19Then Abraham returned to his servants. They started out together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Sons
20Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah has become a mother. She has had sons by your brother Nahor.
21Uz was born first. Then came his brother Buz.
Kemuel was born next. He became the father of Aram.
22Milkah’s other sons are Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.”
23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah.
Milkah had the eight sons by Abraham’s brother Nahor.
24Nahor had a concubine named Reumah. She also had sons.
They were Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
