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Genesis 22 · a question people ask

Does God want people to sacrifice their children?

In the text

No. In this chapter God himself stops Abraham: "Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him" (22:12), and the chapter calls the whole event a test (22:1). Later God's law forbids it: "You shall not do so to the LORD your God… for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods" (Deuteronomy 12:31). Through Jeremiah God says of people who did it, "which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind" (Jeremiah 7:31).

The verses

“After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.””
Genesis 22:1 · World English Bible
“He said, “Don’t 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.””
Genesis 22:12 · World English Bible
“You shall not do so to the LORD your God; for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, they have done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.”
Deuteronomy 12:31 · World English Bible
“They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind.”
Jeremiah 7:31 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Genesis 22

Genesis 22: God will provide

God tested Abraham by asking for Isaac, the son he loved, in the Bible's first use of the word love. Abraham went, told Isaac "God will provide himself the lamb", and was stopped by the angel of the LORD. A ram was offered instead of his son, and God swore by himself that all the nations would be blessed by Abraham's offspring.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions