relates the

, in which

tests

by asking him to present his son,

, as a sacrifice on

. No reason is given within the text. Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. The story ends with an

stopping Abraham at the last minute and making Isaac's sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead.

has speculated that it is possible that the story "contains traces of a tradition in which Abraham does sacrifice Isaac". Rabbi A.I. Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, stressed that the climax of the story, commanding Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, is the whole point: to put an end to the ritual of child sacrifice, which contradicts the morality of a perfect and giving (not taking) monotheistic God.

According to Irving Greenberg the story of the

, symbolizes the prohibition to worship God by

, at a time when

was the norm worldwide.