even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
Parallel translations
- WEB to whom it was said, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac”;
- KJV Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
- NKJV of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
- NASB it was he to whom it was said, “Through Isaac your descendants shall be named.”
- NLT even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaac was the son of whom God had said the promised offspring would come. The command to offer him therefore put God's own word to the test.
Overview
Quoting Genesis 21:12, this verse underscores the tension in the command: Isaac was the appointed channel of all God's promises to Abraham. To sacrifice him seemed to cancel the covenant itself. This sharpens the magnitude of Abraham's faith, which trusted God's word even when his command appeared to contradict it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Gen 21:12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
- Rom 9:7Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”
- Gen 17:19But God replied, “Your wife Sarah will indeed bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 11:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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