The land of Moriah
A place in the Bible
The land where God sent Abraham with his son Isaac. Centuries later, the Temple of Jerusalem was built on Mount Moriah.
What happened here
- Abraham and Isaac: God asked Abraham to take Isaac, his only son, to one of those mountains and offer him as a sacrifice. In the Douay-Rheims it is called “the land of vision.”
- The angel: when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him. In place of Isaac, Abraham offered a ram caught in a thicket.
- The name: Abraham named that place “The Lord will see.”
- The Temple: Solomon began to build the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah.
Today
Mount Moriah is the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem.
Where it appears in the Bible
Genesis 22:2; Genesis 22:10-13; Genesis 22:14; 2 Chronicles 3:1
What the Bible says
Genesis 22:2
He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision: and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will show thee.
Genesis 22:10-13
10And he put forth his hand and took the sword, to sacrifice his son. 11And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am. 12And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake. 13Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.
Genesis 22:14
And he called the name of that place, The Lord seeth. Whereupon even to this day it is said: In the mountain the Lord will see.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: 2 Chronicles 3:1; Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Moriah”