Genesis

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Anonymous

Abram (Abraham) Character Analysis

Abram is Terah’s son. God commands Abram to leave his home country behind and travel to the land (Canaan) God will show him; there, God will make a great nation of him. Abram takes his nephew Lot with him and accordingly travels to Canaan, settling by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron. Here, God promises Abram that he will give him the whole land, as well as innumerable offspring. He later establishes a covenant with Abram, promising him that though he is yet childless, God will grant him all the land from Egypt to the Euphrates, and that though his offspring will be enslaved by foreigners, God will liberate them. After Abram takes Hagar as a wife (on his childless wife Sarai’s urging) and fathers Ishmael, God appears to him again, renaming him Abraham and promising again to make him the father of many nations. Abraham introduces the practice of circumcision among his family in response to God’s covenant promise. After Abraham and Sarai’s (now Sarah’s) son, Isaac, is finally born, fulfilling God’s promise of a direct descendant for the two of them, God tests Abraham’s faith by ordering Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt sacrifice; when Abraham obeys, proving that he fears God, God stops him at the last moment and provides a ram for the sacrifice instead. After Sarah dies, Abraham sends his servant back to his home country to seek a wife for Isaac. He also takes a second wife named Keturah, who bears him more children. Abraham dies at age 175 and is buried with Sarah.

Abram (Abraham) Quotes in Genesis

The Genesis quotes below are all either spoken by Abram (Abraham) or refer to Abram (Abraham). 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:
God, Humanity, and Creation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 15 Quotes

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” […] But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham) (speaker)
Page Number: 15:1–6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. […] So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.”

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham)
Page Number: 17:9–13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Sarai (Sarah) (speaker), Abram (Abraham)
Page Number: 18:11–15
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham) (speaker), Isaac
Page Number: 22:9–13
Explanation and Analysis:
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.’”

Related Characters: Jacob (Israel) (speaker), God/the LORD God, Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Esau
Page Number: 32:9–12
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: Joseph (speaker), God/the LORD God, Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Jacob (Israel)
Related Symbols: Land
Page Number: 50:24–26
Explanation and Analysis:
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Abram (Abraham) Quotes in Genesis

The Genesis quotes below are all either spoken by Abram (Abraham) or refer to Abram (Abraham). 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:
God, Humanity, and Creation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 15 Quotes

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” […] But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham) (speaker)
Page Number: 15:1–6
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. […] So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.”

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham)
Page Number: 17:9–13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Sarai (Sarah) (speaker), Abram (Abraham)
Page Number: 18:11–15
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: God/the LORD God (speaker), Abram (Abraham) (speaker), Isaac
Page Number: 22:9–13
Explanation and Analysis:
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.’”

Related Characters: Jacob (Israel) (speaker), God/the LORD God, Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Esau
Page Number: 32:9–12
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: Joseph (speaker), God/the LORD God, Abram (Abraham), Isaac, Jacob (Israel)
Related Symbols: Land
Page Number: 50:24–26
Explanation and Analysis: