Part 12 (2/2)

21:24. And Abraham said: I will swear.

21:25. And he reproved Abimelech for a well of water, which his servants had taken away by force.

21:26. And Abimelech answered: I knew not who did this thing: and thou didst not tell me, and I heard not of it till today.

21:27. Then Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech: and both of them made a league.

21:28. And Abraham set apart seven ewelambs of the flock.

21:29. And Abimelech said to him: What mean these seven ewelambs which thou hast set apart?

21:30. But he said: Thou shalt take seven ewelambs at my hand: that they may be a testimony for me, that I dug this well.

21:31. Therefore that place was called Bersabee; because there both of them did swear.

Bersabee... That is, the well of oath.

21:32. And they made a league for the well of oath.

21:33. And Abimelech and Phicol, the general of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Palestines. But Abraham planted a grove in Bersabee, and there called upon the name of the Lord G.o.d eternal.

21:34. And he was a sojourner in the land of the Palestines many days.

Genesis Chapter 22

The faith and obedience of Abraham is proved in his readiness to sacrifice his son Isaac. He is stayed from the act by an angel. Former promises are renewed to him. His brother Nachor's issue.

22:1. After these things, G.o.d tempted Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.

G.o.d tempted, etc... G.o.d tempteth no man to evil, James 1.13; but by trial and experiment maketh known to the world, and to ourselves, what we are, as here by this trial the singular faith and obedience of Abraham was made manifest.

22:2. He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision; and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee.

22:3. So Abraham rising up in the night, saddled his a.s.s, and took with him two young men, and Isaac his son: and when he had cut wood for the holocaust, he went his way to the place which G.o.d had commanded him.

22:4. And on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off.

22:5. And he said to his young men: Stay you here with the a.s.s; I and the boy will go with speed as far as yonder, and after we have wors.h.i.+pped, will return to you.

22:6. And he took the wood for the holocaust, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he himself carried in his hands fire and a sword. And as they two went on together,

22:7. Isaac said to his father: My father. And he answered: What wilt thou, son? Behold, saith he, fire and wood: where is the victim for the holocaust?

22:8. And Abraham said: G.o.d will provide himself a victim for an holocaust, my son. So they went on together.

22:9. And they came to the place which G.o.d had shewn him, where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it; and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.

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