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Abram (Abraham)
Isaac is the promised son of Abraham and Sarah, born when his father is 100 and Sarah is past 90. His name means “laughter” and speaks to how both Abraham and Sarah laughed in disbelief at the idea that God would grant them a child in their old age. When Isaac is a young boy, God tests Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac on a remote mountain. When Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son, an angel intervenes at the last moment. Later, Isaac marries Rebekah and becomes the father of Jacob and Esau. He settles in the valley of Gerar and later in Beer-sheba, becoming wealthy and recognized for God’s blessing in his life. Of his two sons, Isaac favors Esau, and when he is old and blind, he is tricked by Jacob into giving Jacob Esau’s blessing. After Isaac dies, he is buried with Abraham and Sarah.
Isaac Quotes in Genesis
The Genesis quotes below are all either spoken by Isaac or refer to Isaac. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 22 Quotes
When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
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Chapter 27 Quotes
Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him?—yes, and blessed he shall be!” When Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me also, father!” But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and look, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
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Chapter 32 Quotes
And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant […] Deliver me, please, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him; he may come and kill us all, the mothers with the children. Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’”
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Chapter 50 Quotes
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
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Isaac Character Timeline in Genesis
The timeline below shows where the character Isaac appears in Genesis. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 17
...sight!” God repeats that Abram will have a son by Sarah, whose name will be Isaac. God will also bless Ishmael, making him a great nation. But God will make an...
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Chapter 21
...LORD fulfills his promise to Sarah—she conceives and bears Abraham a son, whom Abraham names Isaac. Isaac is circumcised at eight days old. Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is...
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After Isaac is weaned, Sarah sees Hagar’s son Ishmael playing with Isaac, and she gets angry. She...
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Chapter 22
...this, God tests Abraham. He summons Abraham and commands him to take his beloved son, Isaac, to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt sacrifice on a mountain...
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On the mountain, Abraham builds an altar. Then he binds Isaac and places his son on the wood of the altar. As Abraham is drawing his...
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Chapter 24
...tells his oldest servant to swear to him that he will find a wife for Isaac, not among the Canaanites, but from Abraham’s native country. Isaac must not return to that...
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...for a drink, the one who offers to water his camels as well will be Isaac’s future wife. As the servant finishes praying, Rebekah, Nahor’s granddaughter, approaches. When the servant asks...
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...delay. When the family asks Rebekah, she agrees to go with the servant and become Isaac’s wife. Rebekah’s family sends her off with a blessing. One day, while Isaac is walking...
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Chapter 25
...wife named Keturah, and she bears him many more children. After giving his possessions to Isaac, Abraham dies at age 175. Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham with Sarah in the cave...
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The narrative turns to Isaac’s descendants. At first, Isaac’s wife Rebekah is barren, but after Isaac prays for her, she...
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...As the boys grow up, Esau becomes a hunter, while Jacob prefers a quiet life. Isaac shares Esau’s love of wild game and is partial to him, but Rebekah favors Jacob.
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Chapter 26
There is a famine in the land, so Isaac goes to King Abimelech of the Philistines in Gerar. The LORD warns Isaac not to...
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God blesses Isaac, and he reaps a great harvest in his new land, becoming wealthy. The Philistines become...
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Isaac’s son Esau marries two Hittite women, Judith and Basemath. These women make Isaac’s and Rebekah’s...
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Chapter 27
When Isaac is old and unable to see, he calls Esau to him. Isaac explains that he...
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When Jacob comes in, he tells Isaac that he is Esau. Isaac wonders how the game was hunted and prepared so quickly,...
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...and left than Esau comes in with the game he caught. When Esau identifies himself, Isaac trembles and says that he has already given a blessing. Then Esau cries out bitterly...
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Esau hates Jacob for stealing his blessing, and he resolves to kill Jacob after Isaac dies. But when Rebekah hears of this, she orders Jacob to flee to her brother...
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Chapter 28
Isaac blesses Jacob once again, telling him not to marry a Canaanite woman. Instead, he must...
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Chapter 35
...offspring. He promises again to give Jacob the land that he gave to Abraham and Isaac. Jacob establishes a pillar at Bethel.
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...from Leah, two from Rachel, and two each from Bilhah and Zilpah. Jacob comes to Isaac at Mamre, and after Isaac dies, Jacob and Esau bury him.
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Chapter 37
Jacob (Israel) settles in the land of Canaan, where his father Isaac had lived. When Israel’s son Joseph is 17 years old, he works alongside the sons...
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Chapter 48
...He gives the boys his blessing—the blessing of the God of his fathers Abraham and Isaac.
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Chapter 49
Jacob commands his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are buried. Then Jacob breathes his last.
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Chapter 50
...will surely bring them up from this land to the land he’d promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He makes the Israelites swear to carry his bones to Canaan “when God...
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