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About this book

Apocalypse of Abraham

About this book

The Revelation and the Command to Sacrifice

Chapter 9

1 Then a voice spoke to me twice: "Abraham, Abraham!"⁠ 2 And I said: "Here I am!" 3 And He said: "Look, it is I; do not be afraid, for I existed before the worlds, and I am a mighty God who has created the light of the world. 4 I am a shield over you, and I am your helper. 5 Go, bring me a young three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a pigeon,⁠ and bring me a pure sacrifice. And in this sacrifice I will show you the ages (to come),⁠ 6 and tell you what has been kept in reserve, and you will see great things which you have not seen (until now); because you have loved searching for me, and I have named you my Friend. 7 But avoid every kind of food cooked over fire, and drinking wine, and rubbing (yourself) with oil for forty days,⁠ 8 and then offer me the sacrifice I have commanded you to make, in the place which I will show you, on a high mountain,⁠ 9 and there I will show you the ages which have been created and established, made and renewed, by my Word, 10 and I will tell you what will happen during them to those who have done evil and (practiced) righteousness among the human race.

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 15:9 and Apocalypse of Abraham 9:5

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

In Genesis, God tells Abraham which animals to bring for a covenant sacrifice and promises him descendants. In the Apocalypse of Abraham, God orders the same sacrifice to prepare Abraham for a journey to heaven, where he will see their future.

Passages

Genesis 15:9

Hebrew Bible
9 The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. 14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Apocalypse of Abraham 9:5

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And I said: "Here I am!" 3 And He said: "Look, it is I; do not be afraid, for I existed before the worlds, and I am a mighty God who has created the light of the world. 4 I am a shield over you, and I am your helper. 5 Go, bring me a young three-year-old heifer, and a three-year-old female goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtledove and a pigeon, and bring me a pure sacrifice. And in this sacrifice I will show you the ages (to come), 6 and tell you what has been kept in reserve, and you will see great things which you have not seen (until now); because you have loved searching for me, and I have named you my Friend.
70–150 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Apocalypse of Abraham

References

“... Abraham is ordered to bring a sacrifice (according to Gen. 15:9), which will enable him to “know secrets” and see “great things.” The whole vision develops as a midrashic interpretation of Gen. 15. ...”
Alexander Kulik, “Apocalypse of Abraham,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. James L. Kugel Louis H. Feldman and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013), 1462.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Genesis 15:9 and Apocalypse of Abraham 9:5

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