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A NORTON CRITICAL EDITION
THE ENGLISH BIBLE
KING JAMES VERSION
~
Volume One
The Old Testament
EDITED BY
HERBERT MARKS
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
~
W · W · NORTON & COMPANY· New York· London
:33
GENESIS
22 : 1-22: 13
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and
said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and
saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and
clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of
which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
saw the place afar off. 5And 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. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac
his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them
together. 7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he
said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is
the lamb for a burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9 And 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. 10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the
knife to slay his son. 11 And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And 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.
13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, a nd looked, and behold behind him a ram
caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and
22
eac h phase of a single ges ture. Like the casting out of Ishm ael in c hap. 21, it plays on the relation
between obeying or hear ing and providence or seei ng. The postbibli ca l interpretation of the episode
as the "sac rifice" of Isaac and its assoc iation with ideas of atoneme nt a nd vicarious me rit were taken
up agai n in the Christian und ersta ndin g of the cru c ifix ion. The a nticlima cti c coda (vv. 15-19), a
seconda ry addition , presents the tes t in more c rud e ly juridical term s a nd reitera tes the formula of
blessi ng. 22:1 God did tempt: in the now obsolete se nse of "test" or "make trial of" (cf. Exod 16:4;
20:20 [KJ V "prove"])-of his faith , if he indeed be lieves th at God wi ll provide the lamb (v. 8); of his
obedience, if he b elieves God intend s him to perform the sacrifi ce. Behold . . . am : more simply
"here am !," exac tly as in vv. 7 and 11. 22:2 Isaac: in MT the name comes last, after the three ep ithets (cf. 12: 1, where the progression likew ise tends inwa rd , from "country" to "kindre d " to "father's
house"). Get thee: cf. 12: l note. Moriah: lit. "the mori ah "; the ancient ve rsions treat it as a common
noun , with the Vu lgate reading "vision ," from the root r-'-h, "see" (v. 14), and the Targums rea ding
"worship," from y-r-', "fear" (v. 12). A third etymology, from y-r-h, "teac h" (root of torah, "instru ction"),
suggests a frame w ith "Moreh," Abra ham's first destination in chap. 12, and supports the traditional
identification with th e Temple Mount (t he "mount of th e Lord ," v. 14; cf. 2 Chr 3: 1). 22:3 Rose
up early: cf. 19:27; 2 1:14. The place: see 28: ll note. 22:5 And come again: the Hebrew verb is
plura l. 22:10 Stretched [lit. "sent") forth : a different form of the verb u sed in 2 1:14 (Heb. shalah).
22:12 Lay not: lit. "stretch [or 'send '] not forth" (again shalah). 22: 13 Lifted up his eyes, and looked:
Abraham's charac teri st ic gesture (see note to c hap. 13). Took: completin g the series that bega n with
God's command (cf. vv. 2, 3, 6, 10). Behind .. . a ram: KJV adds "him"; some ancient vers ions read "one
ram" (a difference of a single manuscript stroke), which would correspond to "qnly son" (v. 2). Compare
the G_reek lege nd of the gold en Aeece, in wh ich King At h amas is on the point of sacri fi cing hi s son at
53
54
GENESIS
22:14-23:2
offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14And 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.
15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second
time, 16 and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast
done this thing, and hast not ~ithheld thy son, thine only son: 17 that in blessing
I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven , and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess
the gate of his enemies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 19 So Abraham returned unto his
young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham
dwelt at Beer-sheba.
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying,
Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; 21 Huz his
firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 and Chesed,
and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah:
these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine,
whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and
Maachah.
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were
the years of the life of Sarah. 2And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same
23
the command of an oracle when a golden ram appears. 22:14 ]ehovah-jireh: Heb. yhwh yir eh, "the
Lord will see," or "the Lord will provide" (v. 8), or (with different vowels) "the Lord will be seen." The
episode supports all three readings , which seem insepara ble from one another and from the "hea ring" or obeying on which they depend (cf. 16:11 - 14; 21:17-19). For the English coinage "Jehovah ,"
see Exod 6:3 note. It shall be seen: Heb. yera eh; alternative translations are again possible : "it is/s hall
be provided " (cf. v. 8); "he (the Lord) appears/shall appear (be seen)"; or even "one (the pilgrim)
shou ld appear" (at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem for the annual festivals). 22:15-18 The second
divine intervention embellishes the promises of 12:2-3, which are now presented as a reward for
Abraham's obedience. 22:19 So Abraham returned: the omission of any mention of Isaac has given
rise to numerous legends (among them the talmudic parable that he was in fact slain and only later
brought back to life). Whether the phrase went together, with its echo of vv. 6 and 8, implies his presence or high lights his absence is uncertain. The absence of Sarah throughout the chapter lends the
question a special poignance (see 23:2).
22:20-24 The sons of Nahor. These verses correspond to the genealogy of Terah at the beginning of the Abraham cycle (11 :27-32) and prepare for the betrothal of Isaac and Rebekah (chap. 24).
Like the Israelites and the Ishmaelites (2 5:13- 15), the Aramaeans count twelve tribes in a ll. 22:21
Huz [Uz) ... Aram: cf. 10:22-23 , where the original Aram (broadly, th e Semitic peoples of western
Mesopotamia) was the son of Shem and the father of Uz. In the narrow sense intended here, Aram
designates the confederation of Syrian cities genera lly hostile to Israel during the time of the divided
monarchy. 22:23 These eight Milcah did bear: in contrast to the long-barren Sarah. 22:24 His
concubine: four of the sons of Jacob/ Israel will likewise be born to concubines.
23:1-20 The cave of Machpelah. The first c hapter of the coda to the Abraham cycle describes
the purchase of a family grave site-an ironic reminder of God's initial promise to give the entire
land to his descendants (12:7; 17:8). Except for the "parcel of a field " Jacob buys from Hamor (33:19),
Machpelah (the "double cave")-final resting place not only of Sarah but of Rebekah, Leah , and al l
three patriarchs-will be Israel's only stake in the promised land until the conquest some six hun-
GENESIS
23:3-:
is Hebron in
weep for her.
sons of Heth
sion of a buri
children of H
a mighty prir
us shall with
7And Abra
the children
that I should
ron the son
hath, which
give it me fo
among the c
audience of
saying, 11 Na)
I give it thee
dead. 12 And
he spake un
thou wilt giv
of me , and I
unto him, 15 ;
silver; what i
hearkened u
had named i
current mon
17And the
the field , am
that were in
possession i1
gate of his c
the field of l\
20 And the fi.1
possession o
dred years late1
Ephron the Hi
can now afford
sents a promis
but one of the
A stranger (Heb
non-Israelite lb
for (v. 9)-or
proposal is mor
Abraham acce1