9:1 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing out threats ¹  to murder ²  the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest 9:2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues ³  in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, ⁴  either men or women, he could bring them as prisoners ⁵  to Jerusalem. ⁶ 

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ²  replied. 22:2 God ³  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁴  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁵  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁶  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁷  you.”

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ⁸  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 ⁹  for the place God had spoken to him about.

22:4 On the third day Abraham caught sight of ¹⁰  the place in the distance. 22:5 So he ¹¹  said to his servants, “You two stay ¹²  here with the donkey while ¹³  the boy and I go up there. We will worship ¹⁴  and then return to you.” ¹⁵ 

22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. Then he took the fire and the knife in his hand, ¹⁶  and the two of them walked on together. 22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ¹⁷  “My father?” “What is it, ¹⁸  my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, ¹⁹  “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide ²⁰  for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there ²¹  and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up ²²  his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 22:10 Then Abraham reached out his hand, took the knife, and prepared to slaughter ²³  his son. 22:11 But the Lord’s angel ²⁴  called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. 22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ²⁵  the angel said. ²⁶  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ²⁷  that you fear ²⁸  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

22:13 Abraham looked up ²⁹  and saw ³⁰  behind him ³¹  a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he ³²  went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” ³³  It is said to this day, ³⁴  “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.” ³⁵ 

22:15 The Lord’s angel called to Abraham a second time from heaven

26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” ⁶  He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, ⁷  “The men of this place will kill me to get ⁸  Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”

26:8 After Isaac ⁹  had been there a long time, ¹⁰  Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed ¹¹  Isaac caressing ¹²  his wife Rebekah. 26:9 So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really ¹³  your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.” ¹⁴ 

26:10 Then Abimelech exclaimed, “What in the world have you done to us? ¹⁵  One of the men ¹⁶  might easily have had sexual relations with ¹⁷  your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us!” 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Whoever touches ¹⁸  this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” ¹⁹ 

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ²⁰  because the Lord blessed him. ²¹