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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

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Chapter 22

1 And it happened after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham; and he said, Look! I am here.⁠ 2 And he said, Take your son, the beloved one, whom you have loved, Isaac,⁠ and go into the high land, and offer him there for a whole burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of. 3 And Abraham rose up in the morning and saddled his donkey, and he took with him two servants, and Isaac his son, and having split wood for a whole burnt offering, he arose and departed, and came to the place of which God spoke to him, 4 on the third day; and Abraham having lifted up his eyes, saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his servants, Sit here with the donkey, and I and the lad will proceed thus far, and having worshiped we will return to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the whole burnt offering, and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took into his hands both the fire and the knife, and the two went together. 7 And Isaac said to Abraham his father, Father. And he said, What is it, son? And he said, Look, the fire and the wood, where is the sheep for a whole burnt offering? 8 And Abraham said, God will provide himself a sheep for a whole burnt offering, my son. And both having gone together, 9 came to the place which God spoke of to him; and there Abraham built the altar, and laid the wood on it, and having bound the feet of Isaac his son together, he laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand to take the knife to kill his son. 11 And an angel of the Lord called him out of heaven, and said to him, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Look, I am here. 12 And he said, Do not lay your hand upon the child, neither do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, and for my sake you have not spared your beloved son.⁠ 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and look! a ram caught by his horns in a plant of Sabec;⁠ and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a whole burnt offering in the place of Isaac his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place, The Lord has seen; that they might say today, In the mount the Lord was seen. 15 And an angel of the Lord called Abraham the second time out of heaven, 16 saying, I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and on my account have not spared your beloved son, 17 surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is by the shore of the sea, and your seed shall inherit the cities of their enemies. 18 And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have listened to my voice.⁠ 19 And Abraham returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to the well of the oath; and Abraham lived at the well of the oath. 20 And it happened after these things, that it was reported to Abraham, saying, Look, Milcah herself too has borne sons to Nahor your brother, 21 Uz the firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of the Syrians, 22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 And Bethuel fathered Rebekah; these are eight sons, which Milcah bore to Nahor the brother of Abraham. 24 And his concubine whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Genesis 22:18 and Acts 3:25

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

Acts quotes the promise in Genesis 22 that all nations will be blessed through Abraham. It uses a passive form found in the Greek translation that shows the nations receiving blessing without needing to join Abraham’s family or follow Jewish customs.

Passages

LXX Genesis 22:18

Septuagint
17 surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is by the shore of the sea, and your seed shall inherit the cities of their enemies. 18 And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have listened to my voice. 19 And Abraham returned to his servants, and they arose and went together to the well of the oath; and Abraham lived at the well of the oath.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

Acts 3:25

New Testament
24 And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days. 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Acts

References

"... Here also there are two main lines of interpretation: this has generally been understood either in a passive sense (i.e., “all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you”) or in a reflexive sense (i.e., “by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves”). This interpretative crux is compounded by the fact that two different verb forms are used in relation to this particular promise within the patriarchal narratives: the Niphal (generally passive) in Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 28:14; and the Hithpael (generally reflexive) in Genesis 22:18 and 26:4. The antiquity of the passive interpretation in Genesis 12:3 is reflected by both the Septuagint and the New Testament (compare Acts 3:25; Galatians 3:8) ... However, the fact that the promises are explicitly related to the person of Abraham rather than to his name constitutes a serious problem for those who wish to interpret the verb reflexively. A further difficulty is that the context anticipates that the nations will participate in Israel’s blessing (in Genesis 12:3a, what is expected to be the norm is expressed by the plural); thus merely wishing for such blessing would be “decidedly anti-climactic” ..."
T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker, Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003), 144.

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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LXX Genesis 22:18 and Acts 3:25

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