And the Lord thought to try Abraham and Isaac in this matter. And He said to Abraham, "Take now your son."
Abraham: "I have two sons, and I do not know which of them you command me to take."
God: "Your only son."
Abraham: "The one is the only son of his mother, and the other is the only son of his mother."
God: "Whom you love."
Abraham: "I love this one and I love that one."
God: "Even Isaac."
Abraham: "And where shall I go?"
God: "To the land I will show you, and offer Isaac there for a burnt offering."
Abraham: "Am I fit to perform the sacrifice, am I a priest? Ought not rather the high priest Shem to do it?"
God: "When you will arrive at that place, I will consecrate you and make you a priest."
And Abraham said within himself, "How shall I separate my son Isaac from Sarah his mother?" And he came into the tent, and he sat before Sarah his wife, and he spoke these words to her: "My son Isaac is grown up, and he has not yet studied the service of God. Now, tomorrow I will go and bring him to Shem and Eber his son, and there he will learn the ways of the Lord, for they will teach him to know the Lord, and to know how to pray unto the Lord that He may answer him, and to know the way of serving the Lord his God."
And Sarah said, "you have spoken well. Go, my lord, and do unto him as you have said, but remove him not far from me, neither let him remain there too long, for my soul is bound within his soul."
And Abraham said unto Sarah, "My daughter, let us pray to the Lord our God that He may do good with us."
And Sarah took her son Isaac, and he stayed with her all that night, and she kissed and embraced him, and she laid injunctions upon him till morning, and she said to Abraham: "O my lord, I pray you, take heed of your son, and place your eyes over him, for I have no other son nor daughter but him. O neglect him not. If he be hungry, give him bread, and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; do not let him go on foot, neither let him sit in the sun, neither let him go by himself on the road, neither turn him from whatever he may desire, but do unto him as he may say to you."
After spending the whole night in weeping on account of Isaac, she got up in the morning and selected a very fine and beautiful garment from those that Abimelech had given to her. And she dressed Isaac in it, and she put a turban upon his head, and she fastened a precious stone in the top of the turban, and she gave them provisions for the road. And Sarah went out with them, and she accompanied them upon the road to see them off, and they said to her, "Return to the tent." And when Sarah heard the words of her son Isaac, she wept bitterly, and Abraham wept with her, and their son wept with them, a great weeping, also those of their servants who went with them wept greatly. And Sarah caught hold of Isaac, and she held him in her arms, and she embraced him, and continued to weep with him, and Sarah said, "Who knows if I shall ever see you again after this day?"
Abraham departed with Isaac amid great weeping, while Sarah and the servants returned to the tent. He took two of his young men with him, Ishmael and Eliezer, and while they were walking in the road, the young men spoke these words to each other.
Said Ishmael to Eliezer: "Now my father Abraham is going with Isaac to bring him up for a burnt offering to the Lord, and when he returns, he will give me all that he possesses, to inherit after him, for I am his first-born."
Eliezer answered: "Surely, Abraham did cast you off with your mother, and swear that you should not inherit anything of all he possesses. And to whom will he give all that he has, all his precious things, but unto his servant, who has been faithful in his house, to me, who have served him night and day, and have done all that he desired me?"
The holy spirit answered, "Neither this one nor that one will inherit Abraham."
And while Abraham and Isaac were proceeding along the road, Satan came and appeared to Abraham in the figure of a very aged man, humble and of contrite spirit, and said to him: "Are you silly or foolish, that you go to do this thing to your only son? God gave you a son in your latter days, in your old age, and will you go and slaughter him, who did not commit any violence, and will you cause the soul of your only son to perish from the earth? Do you not know and understand that this thing cannot be from the Lord? For the Lord would not do unto man such evil, to command him, Go and slaughter your son." Abraham, hearing these words, knew that it was Satan, who endeavored to turn him astray from the way of the Lord, and he rebuked him that he went away.
And Satan returned and came to Isaac, and he appeared unto him in the figure of a young man, comely and well-favored, saying unto him: "Do you not know that your silly old father brings you to the slaughter this day for naught? Now, my son, do not listen to him, for he is a silly old man, and let not your precious soul and beautiful figure be lost from the earth." And Isaac told these words to his father, but Abraham said to him, "Take heed of him, and do not listen to his words, for he is Satan endeavoring to lead us astray from the commands of our God." And Abraham rebuked Satan again, and Satan went from them, and, seeing he could not prevail over them, he transformed himself into a large brook of water in the road, and when Abraham, Isaac, and the two young men reached that place, they saw a brook large and powerful as the mighty waters. And they entered the brook, trying to pass it, but the further they went, the deeper the brook, so that the water reached up to their necks, and they were all terrified on account of the water. But Abraham recognized the place, and he knew that there had been no water there before, and he said to his son: "I know this place, on which there was no brook nor water. Now, surely, it is Satan who does all this to us, to draw us aside this day from the commands of God." And Abraham rebuked Satan, saying unto him: "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan. Begone from us, for we go by the command of God." And Satan was terrified at the voice of Abraham, and he went away from them, and the place became dry land again as it was at first. And Abraham went with Isaac toward the place that God had told him.
Satan then appeared unto Sarah in the figure of an old man, and said unto her, "Where did your husband go?" She said, "To his work." "And where did your son Isaac go?" he inquired further, and she answered, "He went with his father to a place of study of the Torah." Satan said: "O you poor old woman, your teeth will be set on edge on account of your son, as you know not that Abraham took his son with him on the road to sacrifice him." In this hour Sarah's loins trembled, and all her limbs shook. She was no more of this world. Nevertheless she aroused herself, and said, "All that God has told Abraham, may he do it unto life and unto peace."
On the third day of his journey, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place at a distance, which God had told him. He noticed upon the mountain a pillar of fire reaching from the earth to heaven, and a heavy cloud in which the glory of God was seen. Abraham said to Isaac, "My son, do you see on that mountain which we perceive at a distance that which I see upon it?" And Isaac answered, and said unto his father, "I see, and, lo, a pillar of fire and a cloud, and the glory of the Lord is seen upon the cloud." Abraham knew then that Isaac was accepted before the Lord for an offering. He asked Ishmael and Eliezer, "Do you also see that which we see upon the mountain?" They answered, "We see nothing more than like the other mountains," and Abraham knew that they were not accepted before the Lord to go with them. Abraham said to them, "Stay here with the ass, you are like the ass--as little as it sees, so little do you see. I and Isaac my son go to that mountain, and worship there before the Lord, and this evening we will return to you." An unconscious prophecy had come to Abraham, for he prophesied that he and Isaac would both return from the mountain. Eliezer and Ishmael remained in that place, as Abraham had commanded, while he and Isaac went further.
And while they were walking along, Isaac spoke unto his father, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where then is the lamb for a burnt offering before the Lord?" And Abraham answered Isaac, saying, "The Lord has chosen you, my son, for a perfect burnt offering, instead of the lamb." And Isaac said unto his father, "I will do all that the Lord has spoken to you with joy and cheerfulness of heart." And Abraham again said unto Isaac his son, "Is there in your heart any thought or counsel concerning this which is not proper? Tell me, my son, I pray you! O my son, conceal it not from me." And Isaac answered, "As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is nothing in my heart to cause me to deviate either to the right or the left from the word that He has spoken unto you. Neither limb nor muscle has moved or stirred on account of this, nor is there in my heart any thought or evil counsel concerning this. But I am joyful and cheerful of heart in this matter, and I say, Blessed is the Lord who has this day chosen me to be a burnt offering before Him."
Abraham greatly rejoiced at the words of Isaac, and they went on and came together to that place that the Lord had spoken of. And Abraham approached to build the altar in that place, and Abraham did build, while Isaac handed him stones and mortar, until they finished erecting the altar. And Abraham took the wood and arranged it upon the altar, and he bound Isaac, to place him upon the wood which was upon the altar, to slay him for a burnt offering before the Lord. Isaac spoke hereupon: "Father, make haste, bare your arm, and bind my hands and feet securely, for I am a young man, but thirty-seven years of age, and you are an old man. When I behold the slaughtering knife in your hand, I may perchance begin to tremble at the sight and push against you, for the desire unto life is bold. Also I may do myself an injury and make myself unfit to be sacrificed. I adjure you, therefore, my father, make haste, execute the will of your Creator, delay not. Turn up your garment, gird your loins, and after that you have slaughtered me, burn me unto fine ashes. Then gather the ashes, and bring them to Sarah, my mother, and place them in a casket in her chamber. At all hours, whenever she enters her chamber, she will remember her son Isaac and weep for him."
And again Isaac spoke: "As soon as you have slaughtered me, and have separated yourself from me, and return to Sarah my mother, and she asks you, Where is my son Isaac? what will you answer her, and what will you two do in your old age?" Abraham answered, and said, "We know we can survive you by a few days only. He who was our Comfort before you wast born, will comfort us now and henceforth."
After he had laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac on the altar, upon the wood, Abraham braced his arms, rolled up his garments, and leaned his knees upon Isaac with all his strength. And God, sitting upon His throne, high and exalted, saw how the hearts of the two were the same, and tears were rolling down from the eyes of Abraham upon Isaac, and from Isaac down upon the wood, so that it was submerged in tears. When Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son, God spoke to the angels: "Do you see how Abraham my friend proclaims the unity of My Name in the world? Had I hearkened unto you at the time of the creation of the world, when you said, What is man, that you are mindful of him? And the son of man, that you visit him? who would there have been to make known the unity of My Name in this world?" The angels then broke into loud weeping, and they exclaimed: "The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases, he has broken the covenant. Where is the reward of Abraham, he who took the wayfarers into his house, gave them food and drink, and went with them to bring them on the way? The covenant is broken, whereof you did speak to him, saying, 'For in Isaac shall your seed be called,' and saying, 'My covenant will I establish with Isaac,' for the slaughtering knife is set upon his throat."
The tears of the angels fell upon the knife, so that it could not cut Isaac's throat, but from terror his soul escaped from him. Then God spoke to the archangel Michael, and said: "Why stand you here? Let him not be slaughtered." Without delay, Michael, anguish in his voice, cried out: "Abraham! Abraham! Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you any thing unto him!" Abraham made answer, and he said: "God did command me to slaughter Isaac, and you command me not to slaughter him! The words of the Teacher and the words of the disciple- unto whose words does one hearken?" Then Abraham heard it said: "By Myself have I sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
At once Abraham left off from Isaac, who returned to life, revived by the heavenly voice admonishing Abraham not to slaughter his son. Abraham loosed his bonds, and Isaac stood upon his feet, and spoke the benediction, "Blessed art you, O Lord, who makes living the dead."
Then spoke Abraham to God, "Shall I go hence without having offered up a sacrifice?" Whereunto God replied, and said, "Lift up your eyes, and behold the sacrifice behind you." And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket, which God had created in the twilight of Sabbath eve in the week of creation, and prepared since then as a burnt offering instead of Isaac. And the ram had been running toward Abraham, when Satan caught hold of him and entangled his horns in the thicket, that he might not advance to Abraham. And Abraham, seeing this, fetched him from the thicket, and brought him upon the altar as an offering in the place of his son Isaac. And Abraham sprinkled the blood of the ram upon the altar, and he exclaimed, and said, "This is instead of my son, and may this be considered as the blood of my son before the Lord." And whatsoever Abraham did by the altar, he exclaimed, and said, "This is instead of my son, and may it be considered before the Lord in place of my son." And God accepted the sacrifice of the ram, and it was accounted as though it had been Isaac.
As the creation of this ram had been extraordinary, so also was the use to which all parts of his carcass were put. Not one thing went to waste. The ashes of the parts burnt upon the altar formed the foundation of the inner altar, whereon the expiatory sacrifice was brought once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the day on which the offering of Isaac took place. Of the sinews of the ram, David made ten strings for his harp upon which he played. The skin served Elijah for his girdle, and of his two horns, the one was blown at the end of the revelation on Mount Sinai, and the other will be used to proclaim the end of the Exile, when the "great horn shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem."
When God commanded the father to desist from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham said: "One man tempts another, because he knows not what is in the heart of his neighbor. But you surely did know that I was ready to sacrifice my son!"
God: "It was manifest to Me, and I foreknew it, that you would withhold not even your soul from Me."
Abraham: "And why, then, did you afflict me thus?"
God: "It was My wish that the world should become acquainted with you, and should know that it is not without good reason that I have chosen you from all the nations. Now it has been witnessed unto men that you fear God."
Hereupon God opened the heavens, and Abraham heard the words, "By Myself I swear!"
Abraham: "You swear, and also I swear, I will not leave this altar until I have said what I have to say."
God: "Speak whatsoever you have to speak!"
Abraham: "Did you not promise me you would let one come forth out of my own bowels, whose seed should fill the whole world?"
God: "Yes."
Abraham: "Whom did you mean?"
God: "Isaac."
Abraham: "Did you not promise me to make my seed as numerous as the sand of the sea-shore?"
God: "Yes."
Abraham: "Through which one of my children?"
God: "Through Isaac."
Abraham: "I might have reproached You, and said, O Lord of the world, yesterday you did tell me, In Isaac shall Your seed be called, and now you say, Take your son, your only son, even Isaac, and offer him for a burnt offering. But I refrained myself, and I said nothing. Thus may you, when the children of Isaac commit trespasses and because of them fall upon evil times, be mindful of the offering of their father Isaac, and forgive their sins and deliver them from their suffering."
God: "You have said what you had to say, and I will now say what I have to say. Your children will sin before me in time to come, and I will sit in judgment upon them on the New Year's Day. If they desire that I should grant them pardon, they shall blow the ram's horn on that day, and I, mindful of the ram that was substituted for Isaac as a sacrifice, will forgive them for their sins."
Furthermore, the Lord revealed unto Abraham that the Temple, to be erected on the spot of Isaac's offering, would be destroyed, and as the ram substituted for Isaac extricated himself from one tree but to be caught in another, so his children would pass from kingdom to kingdom--delivered from Babylonia they would be subjugated by Media, rescued from Media they would be enslaved by Greece, escaped from Greece they would serve Rome--yet in the end they would be redeemed in a final redemption, at the sound of the ram's horn, when "the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south."
The place on which Abraham had erected the altar was the same whereon Adam had brought the first sacrifice, and Cain and Abel had offered their gifts to God--the same whereon Noah raised an altar to God after he left the ark; and Abraham, who knew that it was the place appointed for the Temple, called it Yireh, for it would be the abiding place of the fear and the service of God. But as Shem had given it the name Shalem, Place of Peace, and God would not give offence to either Abraham or Shem, He united the two names, and called the city by the name Jerusalem.
After the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, the scene of so many of his joys. Isaac was carried to Paradise by angels, and there he sojourned for three years. Thus Abraham returned home alone, and when Sarah beheld him, she exclaimed, "Satan spoke truth when he said that Isaac was sacrificed," and so grieved was her soul that it fled from her body.
This translation has been adapted from the digital version
posted on Sacred Texts (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/index.htm)
from a version in the public domain.