Genesis 22:7-8

22:7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, ¹  “My father?” “What is it, ²  my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, ³  “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 22:8 “God will provide ⁴  for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

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¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This is redundant and has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “Here I am” (cf. Gen 22:1).

³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here is the fire and the wood.’” The referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here and in the following verse the order of the introductory clauses and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁴ tn Heb “will see for himself.” The construction means “to look out for; to see to it; to provide.”

sn God will provide is the central theme of the passage and the turning point in the story. Note Paul’s allusion to the story in Rom 8:32 (“how shall he not freely give us all things?”) as well as H. J. Schoeps, “The Sacrifice of Isaac in Paul’s Theology,” JBL 65 (1946): 385-92.