Abraham Tested
1Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7Isaac spoke up and 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 went on together.
9When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11But 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,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram22:13 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text a ram behind him caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18and through your offspring22:18 Or seed all nations on earth will be blessed,22:18 Or and all nations on earth will use the name of your offspring in blessings (see 48:20) because you have obeyed me.”
19Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Sons
20Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
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።
