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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 Genesis 22:2 and LXX Genesis 22:2

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Genesis 22 says that Isaac is Abraham’s only son, heightening the stakes of the command to sacrifice him. The Greek Septuagint changes the description of Isaac to “your beloved son,” perhaps to soften the intensity or to harmonize it with Ishmael.
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Passages

Genesis 22:2

Hebrew Bible
1 Some time after these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham replied. 2 God said, “Take your son—your only son, whom you love, Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah! Offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will indicate to you.” 3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out for the place God had spoken to him about.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

LXX Genesis 22:2

Septuagint
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,
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

References

"... The one arena in which the character of Abraham is most altered is in the naming of Isaac. Recall that the naming of Isaac played an important role in stressing the father-son relationship and hence deepened the challenge Abraham faced. The fact that Isaac was Abraham's only son is placed before the Hebrew reader in verses 2, 12, and 16 ... In the first two instances, the word is eliminated. We also saw that it was used nine times in this narrative to solicit emotion from the Hebrew reader. In two instances, the "my son" of the Hebrew was replaced with ('child') and no personal pronoun. Those may be found in verses 7-8. These references in the Hebrew are clearly designed to deepen the reader's appreciation of the father-son relationship and hence amplify the nature of the trial and Abraham's obedience. The net effect of the Greek translation is to mitigate that outcome ..."
John A. Beck, Translators as Storytellers: A Study in Septuagint Translation Technique, StBibLit 25 (New York: Peter Lang, 2000), 85.

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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  • The Masoretic text is much newer than 5th century B.C we don’t have original paleo Hebrew manuscripts the Jews rewrote their books in a new alphabet the Septuagint is the oldest version of the Old Testament books we have that’s why it’s quoted more in the New Testament it’s what they were reading no ...

    Zachary Wilde, August 23, 2025

Genesis 22:2 and LXX Genesis 22:2

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