Burnt offerings II

 And the Lord God called unto Adam,

and said unto him,

Where art thou?

And he said,

I heard thy voice in the garden,

and I was afraid,

because I was naked;

and I hid myself.

***

And Adam knew Eve his wife;

and she conceived,

and bare - Cain,

and said,

I have gotten a man from the Lord.

*

And she again bare his brother - Abel.

And Abel - was a keeper of sheep,

but Cain - was a tiller of the ground.

And in process of time it came to pass,

that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground - an offering unto the Lord.

***

he made the stars also.

***

And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock

and of the fat thereof.

And the Lord had respect unto Abel - and to his offering:

*

But unto Cain - and to his offering he had not respect.

And Cain was very wroth,

and his countenance fell.

*****

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built - an altar there,

and laid the wood in order,

and bound Isaac his son,

and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand,

and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,

and said,

Abraham,

Abraham:

and he said,

Here am I.

And he said,

Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither - do thou any thing unto him:

for now - I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld - thy son,

thine only son - from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes,

and looked,

and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns:

and Abraham went and took the ram,

and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven- the second time,

And said,

By myself have I sworn,

saith the Lord,

for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son,

thine only son:

That in blessing - I will bless thee,

and in multiplying - I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven,

and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

So Abraham returned unto his young men,

and they rose up and went together to Beersheba;

and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

ISamuelX