God Commands Abraham to Offer Isaac

¹Some time later God tested Abraham; he called to him, “Abraham!” And Abraham answered, “Yes, here I am!”

²“Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”

³Early the next morning Abraham cut some wood for the sacrifice, loaded his donkey, and took Isaac and two servants with him. They started out for the place that God had told him about.

⁴On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance.

⁵Then he said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and then we will come back to you.”

⁶Abraham made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, and he himself carried a knife and live coals for starting the fire. As they walked along together,

⁷Isaac spoke up, “Father!” He answered, “Yes, my son?” Isaac asked, “I see that you have the coals and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”

⁸Abraham answered, “God himself will provide one.” And the two of them walked on together.

⁹When they came to the place which God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood.

¹⁰Then he picked up the knife to kill him.

¹¹But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

¹²“Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him,” he said. “Now I know that you honor and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.”

¹³Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

¹⁴Abraham named that place “The Lord Provides.” And even today people say, “On the Lord's mountain he provides.”

¹⁵The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

¹⁶“I make a vow by my own name—the Lord is speaking—that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from me,

¹⁷I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.

¹⁸All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed your descendants—all because you obeyed my command.”

¹⁹Abraham went back to his servants, and they went together to Beersheba, where Abraham settled.

The Descendants of Nahor

²⁰Some time later Abraham learned that Milcah had borne eight children to his brother Nahor:

²¹Uz the first-born, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,

²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel,

²³Rebecca's father. Milcah bore these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

²⁴Reumah, Nahor's concubine, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Sarah Dies and Abraham Buys a Burial Ground

¹Sarah lived to be 127 years old.

²She died in Hebron in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourned her death.

³He left the place where his wife's body was lying, went to the Hittites, and said,

⁴“I am a foreigner living here among you; sell me some land, so that I can bury my wife.”

⁵They answered,

⁶“Listen to us, sir. We look upon you as a mighty leader; bury your wife in the best grave that we have. Any of us would be glad to give you a grave, so that you can bury her.”

⁷Then Abraham bowed before them

⁸and said, “If you are willing to let me bury my wife here, please ask Ephron son of Zohar

⁹to sell me Machpelah Cave, which is near the edge of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for its full price, here in your presence, so that I can own it as a burial ground.”

¹⁰Ephron himself was sitting with the other Hittites at the meeting place at the city gate; he answered in the hearing of everyone there,

¹¹“Listen, sir; I will give you the whole field and the cave that is in it. Here in the presence of my own people, I will give it to you, so that you can bury your wife.”

¹²But Abraham bowed before the Hittites

¹³and said to Ephron, so that everyone could hear, “May I ask you, please, to listen. I will buy the whole field. Accept my payment, and I will bury my wife there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered,

¹⁵“Sir, land worth only four hundred pieces of silver—what is that between us? Bury your wife in it.”

¹⁶Abraham agreed and weighed out the amount that Ephron had mentioned in the hearing of the people—four hundred pieces of silver, according to the standard weights used by the merchants.

¹⁷That is how the property which had belonged to Ephron at Machpelah east of Mamre, became Abraham's. It included the field, the cave which was in it, and all the trees in the field up to the edge of the property.

¹⁸It was recognized as Abraham's property by all the Hittites who were there at the meeting.

¹⁹Then Abraham buried his wife Sarah in that cave in the land of Canaan.

²⁰So the field which had belonged to the Hittites, and the cave in it, became the property of Abraham for a burial ground.

^1-2Will no one answer all this nonsense? Does talking so much put you in the right?

³Job, do you think we can't answer you? That your mocking words will leave us speechless?

⁴You claim that what you say is true; you claim you are pure in the sight of God.

⁵How I wish God would answer you!

⁶He would tell you there are many sides to wisdom; there are things too deep for human knowledge. God is punishing you less than you deserve.

⁷Can you discover the limits and bounds of the greatness and power of God?

⁸The sky is no limit for God, but it lies beyond your reach. God knows the world of the dead, but you do not know it.

⁹God's greatness is broader than the earth, wider than the sea.

¹⁰If God arrests you and brings you to trial, who is there to stop him?

¹¹God knows which people are worthless; he sees all their evil deeds.

¹²Stupid people will start being wise when wild donkeys are born tame.

¹³Put your heart right, Job. Reach out to God.

¹⁴Put away evil and wrong from your home.

¹⁵Then face the world again, firm and courageous.

¹⁶Then all your troubles will fade from your memory, like floods that are past and remembered no more.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than sunshine at noon, and life's darkest hours will shine like the dawn.

¹⁸You will live secure and full of hope; God will protect you and give you rest.

¹⁹You won't be afraid of your enemies; many people will ask you for help.

²⁰But the wicked will look around in despair and find that there is no way to escape. Their one hope is that death will come.

^1-2Yes, you are the voice of the people. When you die, wisdom will die with you.

³But I have as much sense as you have; I am in no way inferior to you; everyone knows all that you have said.

⁴Even my friends laugh at me now; they laugh, although I am righteous and blameless; but there was a time when God answered my prayers.

⁵You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me; you hit someone who is about to fall.

⁶But thieves and godless people live in peace, though their only god is their own strength.

⁷Even birds and animals have much they could teach you;

⁸ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom.

⁹All of them know that the Lord's hand made them.

¹⁰It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power.

¹¹But just as your tongue enjoys tasting food, your ears enjoy hearing words.

^12-13Old people have wisdom, but God has wisdom and power. Old people have insight; God has insight and power to act.

¹⁴When God tears down, who can rebuild, and who can free those God imprisons?

¹⁵Drought comes when God withholds rain; floods come when he turns water loose.

¹⁶God is strong and always victorious; both deceived and deceiver are in his power.

¹⁷He takes away the wisdom of rulers and makes leaders act like fools.

¹⁸He dethrones kings and makes them prisoners;

¹⁹he humbles priests and men of power.

²⁰He silences those who are trusted, and takes the wisdom of old people away.

²¹He disgraces those in power and puts an end to the strength of rulers.

²²He sends light to places dark as death.

²³He makes nations strong and great, but then he defeats and destroys them.

²⁴He makes their leaders foolish and lets them wander confused and lost;

²⁵they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards.

⁹If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair. You will know what you should do.

¹⁰You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure.

¹¹Your insight and understanding will protect you

¹²and prevent you from doing the wrong thing. They will keep you away from people who stir up trouble by what they say—

¹³those who have abandoned a righteous life to live in the darkness of sin,

¹⁴those who find pleasure in doing wrong and who enjoy senseless evil,

¹⁵unreliable people who cannot be trusted.