Isaac
יִצְחָק · yits.chaq · H3327Ἰσαάκ · Isaak · G24641 other spelling“laughter” Hitchcock's 1869123 mentions in 21 books, most in Genesis (74)
Who he was
Isaac was the long-promised son born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, as recorded in Genesis. He was the child of the covenant, through whom God had promised to fulfill his purposes for Abraham's descendants (Gen.17.19,21). Isaac was circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 21:4) and grew up as Abraham's heir.
When he was a youth, God tested Abraham by commanding him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen.22). Abraham obeyed, but at the last moment God provided a ram as a substitute. This event foreshadowed God's provision of his own Son as the ultimate sacrifice.
Isaac married Rebekah, and they had twin sons, Esau and Israel (or 'Jacob') (Genesis 25:21–26). Isaac favored Esau, while Rebekah favored Jacob, leading to family conflict. Jacob deceived Isaac into giving him the firstborn blessing (Gen.27).
Isaac settled in Gerar, where God confirmed to him the covenant promises (Genesis 26:1–5). Like his father, he passed off his wife as his sister out of fear (Genesis 26:7–11). He reopened Abraham's wells and dug new ones, showing his claim to the land.
Isaac died at the age of 180 and was buried by his sons (Genesis 35:29). God is identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, linking Isaac to the patriarchal promises (Exodus 3:6). The New Testament upholds Isaac as an example of faith (Hebrews 11:20) and miraculous birth (Galatians 4:28–29).
Article: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Family
FatherAbrahamMotherSarahSiblingsIshmael, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, ShuahSpouseRebekahChildrenEsau, Israel
Family relations: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0
Every mention
123 references, counted from STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · verse text: World English Bible (public domain)
Genesis74 mentions
Genesis 17:19God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.Genesis 17:21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”Genesis 21:3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.Genesis 21:4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.Genesis 21:5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.Genesis 21:8The child grew and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.Genesis 21:10Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this servant and her son! For the son of this servant will not be heir with my son, Isaac.”Genesis 21:12God said to Abraham, “Don’t let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your servant. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For your offspring will be…Genesis 22:2He said, “Now take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”Genesis 22:3Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey; and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the…Genesis 22:6Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. He took in his hand the fire and the knife. They both went together.Genesis 22:7Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”Genesis 22:9They came to the place which God had told him of. Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on the wood.Genesis 24:4But you shall go to my country, and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”Genesis 24:14Let it happen, that the young lady to whom I will say, ‘Please let down your pitcher, that I may drink,’ then she says, ‘Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink,’—let her be the…Genesis 24:62Isaac came from the way of Beer Lahai Roi, for he lived in the land of the South.Genesis 24:63Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. He lifted up his eyes and looked. Behold, there were camels coming.Genesis 24:64Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel.Genesis 24:66The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.Genesis 24:67Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife. He loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.Genesis 25:5Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac,Genesis 25:6but Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Abraham’s concubines. While he still lived, he sent them away from Isaac his son, eastward, to the east country.Genesis 25:9Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre,Genesis 25:11After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac, his son. Isaac lived by Beer Lahai Roi.Genesis 25:19This is the history of the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham became the father of Isaac.Genesis 25:20Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.Genesis 25:21Isaac entreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren. Yahweh was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.Genesis 25:26After that, his brother came out, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.Genesis 25:28Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate his venison. Rebekah loved Jacob.Genesis 26:1There was a famine in the land, in addition to the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar.Genesis 26:6Isaac lived in Gerar.Genesis 26:8When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.Genesis 26:9Abimelech called Isaac, and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife. Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die because of her.’”Genesis 26:12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. Yahweh blessed him.Genesis 26:16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”Genesis 26:17Isaac departed from there, encamped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.Genesis 26:18Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. He called their names after the…Genesis 26:19Isaac’s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of flowing water.Genesis 26:20The herdsmen of Gerar argued with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him.Genesis 26:25He built an altar there, and called on Yahweh’s name, and pitched his tent there. There Isaac’s servants dug a well.Genesis 26:27Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me, and have sent me away from you?”Genesis 26:31They rose up some time in the morning, and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.Genesis 26:32The same day, Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.”Genesis 26:35They grieved Isaac’s and Rebekah’s spirits.Genesis 27:1When Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, “My son?” He said to him, “Here I am.”Genesis 27:5Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.Genesis 27:20Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because Yahweh your God gave me success.”Genesis 27:21Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”Genesis 27:22Jacob went near to Isaac his father. He felt him, and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”Genesis 27:26His father Isaac said to him, “Come near now, and kiss me, my son.”Genesis 27:30As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.Genesis 27:32Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”Genesis 27:33Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who, then, is he who has taken venison, and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before you came, and have blessed him? Yes, he will be blessed.”Genesis 27:37Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then will I do for you…Genesis 27:39Isaac his father answered him, “Behold, your dwelling will be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of the sky from above.Genesis 27:46Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good will…Genesis 28:1Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.Genesis 28:5Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.Genesis 28:6Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, “You shall not take a…Genesis 28:8Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn’t please Isaac, his father.
Exodus9 mentions
Exodus 2:24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.Exodus 3:6Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.Exodus 3:15God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’…Exodus 3:16Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited…Exodus 4:5“This is so that they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”Exodus 6:3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.Exodus 6:8I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am Yahweh.’”Exodus 32:13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I…Exodus 33:1Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob…
Leviticus1 mention
Deuteronomy7 mentions
Deuteronomy 1:8Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their offspring after them.’”Deuteronomy 6:10It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build,Deuteronomy 9:5Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before…Deuteronomy 9:27Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Don’t look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin,Deuteronomy 29:13that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he spoke to you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.Deuteronomy 30:20to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to…Deuteronomy 34:4Yahweh said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you…
Joshua2 mentions
1 Chronicles4 mentions
1 Chronicles 1:28The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.1 Chronicles 1:34Abraham became the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.1 Chronicles 16:16the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac.1 Chronicles 29:18Yahweh, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this desire forever in the thoughts of the heart of your people, and prepare their heart for you;
Amos2 mentions
Matthew3 mentions
Matthew 1:2Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.Matthew 8:11I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,Matthew 22:32‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
Luke3 mentions
Luke 3:34the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,Luke 13:28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside.Luke 20:37But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
Acts3 mentions
Acts 3:13The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release…Acts 7:8He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the…Acts 7:32‘I am the God of your fathers: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.
Romans2 mentions
Galatians1 mention
Hebrews4 mentions
Hebrews 11:9By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a land not his own, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.Hebrews 11:17By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son,Hebrews 11:18to whom it was said, “Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac,”Hebrews 11:20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even concerning things to come.
What the dictionary says
Laughter.
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
Read the article →Sources
- STEPBible TIPNR · Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References · CC BY 4.0 · github.com/STEPBible/STEPBible-Data
- Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (1869) · Public domain