After this God tested Abraham to see if he loved his son Isaac more than he loved Him. God told Abraham, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you about." So early the next morning Abraham saddled a donkey and took Isaac and started for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham saw the place in the distance. He told the servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go and worship and then come again."

Then Abraham gave the wood to Isaac to carry and he took the fire and the knife himself. As they walked along, Isaac said, "Father?" "Yes, my son?" Abraham answered. He said, "Here are the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God Himself will provide it." And so they walked on.

When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar and put the wood on it. Then he tied up his son and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. He picked up the knife and was about to kill his son, when the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham." "Here I am," he answered. He said, "Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not kept back your only son from me." And Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. So he got the ram and sacrificed it instead of his son. Then the angel of the Lord spoke from heaven a second time, "The Lord says, because you have not kept back you son from me, I will bless you and give you many children through him." So Abraham and Isaac returned to the servants and went home.