person

Isaac

יִצְחָקἸσαάκ

Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah, and the father of Jacob and Esau. God made a covenant with him, renewing the promises given to Abraham.

IllustrationGenesis 22The sacrifice of Isaac is interrupted when Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket and offers it instead.
verses
123
first named
Genesis 17:19
last named
James 2:21
period
the Patriarchs
tribe
Early Patriarch

Description

Who was Isaac?

In the words of STEPBible TIPNR:

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 (Gen.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') (Gen.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 (Gen.26.1-5). Like his father, he passed off his wife as his sister out of fear (Gen.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 (Gen.35.29). God is identified as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, linking Isaac to the patriarchal promises (Exo.3.6). The New Testament upholds Isaac as an example of faith (Heb.11.20) and miraculous birth (Gal.4.28-29).

Relations

Direct connections

Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.

How the graph connects Isaac10 of 45 entities the graph connects to Isaac, in 3 groups: kinship 5, ground 1, events 4. Kinship, company and ground are stated relations; events counts the acts two entities stand in together and is not a relation. Each mark is sized by how many verses name that entity and labelled with the link and the count, so the grouping and the size are both readable without colour. Distance from the centre carries nothing.IsraelFather of · 39 events · 2,578 versesAbrahamChild of · 46 events · 275 versesEsauFather of · 17 events · 84 versesSarahChild of · 3 events · 48 versesRebekahSpouse of · 14 events · 30 versesKinshipNegebLocated in · 39 versesGroundLORD11 events · 1,004 versesCanaan3 events · 146 versesFaith2 events · 146 versesBeersheba3 events · 33 versesEventsIsaac

The 10 best-attested of 45 are drawn. All 45 are listed below.

Child of

Father of

Located in

Sibling of

Spouse of

Took part in

Stands in the same events as

and 26 more, ordered by how many events they share.

Places

Where this happens

The places the claims about this person reach, drawn where the gazetteer locates them. A point is where a row puts them and never where tradition does; no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.

Where the story of Isaac happensAll 8 places the claims about Isaac reach, on a map of the world the text moves through, framed to them: Gerar, Beersheba, Mamre, Paddan, Canaan, Beer-lahai-roi, Negeb, Machpelah. Each dot is a coordinate from the gazetteer, sized by how many rows put Isaac there. The coastline is a modern one, simplified; no border, road or settlement of any period is drawn, and no line joins two points, because the rows state where and not in what order.GerarPaddanBeer-lahai-roiNegeb
the PatriarchsAll 8 places the claims about Isaac reach

Read it

Where to read it

Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 123, across 21 books. The name is written 132 times in them.

  1. Genesis74 verses

    17:1917:2121:321:421:521:821:1021:1222:222:322:622:722:924:424:1424:6224:6324:6424:6624:6725:525:625:925:1125:1925:2025:2125:2625:2826:126:626:826:926:1226:1626:1726:1826:1926:2026:2526:2726:3126:3226:3527:127:527:2027:2127:2227:2627:3027:3227:3327:3727:3927:4628:128:528:628:828:1331:1831:4231:5332:935:1235:2735:2835:2946:148:1548:1649:3150:24

  2. Exodus9 verses

    2:243:63:153:164:56:36:832:1333:1

  3. Leviticus1 verse

    26:42

  4. Numbers1 verse

    32:11

  5. Deuteronomy7 verses

    1:86:109:59:2729:1330:2034:4

  6. Joshua2 verses

    24:324:4

  7. 1 Kings1 verse

    18:36

  8. 2 Kings1 verse

    13:23

  9. 1 Chronicles4 verses

    1:281:3416:1629:18

  10. 2 Chronicles1 verse

    30:6

  11. Psalms1 verse

    105:9

  12. Jeremiah1 verse

    33:26

  13. Amos2 verses

    7:97:16

  14. Matthew3 verses

    1:28:1122:32

  15. Mark1 verse

    12:26

  16. Luke3 verses

    3:3413:2820:37

  17. Acts3 verses

    3:137:87:32

  18. Romans2 verses

    9:79:10

  19. Galatians1 verse

    4:28

  20. Hebrews4 verses

    11:911:1711:1811:20

  21. James1 verse

    2:21

Onward

Where this page goes

Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.

Where they appear

Chapter by chapter

Atlas's reading of each chapter this person appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.

15 more chapters, from Genesis 31 to James 2

Sources

What this rests on