Genesis 22:5

The context

The journey in Genesis 22 takes three days. Abraham leaves the servants at a distance, loads the wood on Isaac, and carries the fire and the knife himself. Verse 5 is his instruction to the young men who came along: stay here, I and the boy will go and worship, and we will return to you.

What it establishes

The verse establishes that Abraham expected to come back with Isaac, and it is the one line in the story that hints at his reasoning. The verb covers bowing down and the worship that goes with it, so the errand is described as worship from the start.

What it does not establish

It does not say what Abraham thought he meant. Whether the words were an evasion to keep the servants from interfering, a confidence that God would provide, or a hope that Isaac would be restored is not stated. Hebrews 11 later supplies one reading; Genesis leaves it open.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• If a father ever killed his own son he would—all things being equal—be rightly judged immoral. But according to Genesis 22, God told Abraham to kill his own son, and was judged righteous for his WILLINGNESS to do so. So God ordains child murder, huh?

Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.