Binding of Isaac

The Binding of Isaac (Hebrew: עֲקֵידַת יִצְחַק‎ ʿAqēḏaṯ Yīṣḥaq), or simply "The Binding" (הָעֲקֵידָה‎ hāʿAqēḏā), is a story from Genesis 22 of the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical narrative, God orders Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac at Moriah. As Abraham begins to comply, having bound Isaac to an altar, he is stopped by the Angel of the Lord; a ram appears and is slaughtered in Isaac's stead, as God commends Abraham's pious obedience to offer his son as a human sacrifice.

Especially in art, the episode is often called the Sacrifice of Isaac, although in the end Isaac was not sacrificed. In addition to being addressed by modern scholarship, this biblical episode has been the focus of a great deal of commentary in traditional sources of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.