Genesis 22:14

Genesis 22:14, in plain English

Abraham names the place 'The LORD Will Provide,' commemorating what happened there. This name becomes a permanent witness to God's faithfulness, remembered in that region for generations to come.

Why it's here

Abraham takes this event and sanctifies it with a name—he transforms a moment of crisis into a monument of faith. The place becomes a memorial, a location where future generations will remember and retell what God did. The saying that develops from this—'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided'—becomes proverbial wisdom.

Who's speaking

The narrator, explaining Abraham's action

Where it sits in the story

The naming of this place roots God's provision into physical geography and collective memory. What happened to Abraham becomes a testimony not just for him but for everyone who hears the story. It becomes proof that God provides.

The scholarly reading

Abraham names the place 'The LORD Will Provide,' establishing it as a memorial to God's intervention and a proverbial saying that endures to the narrator's present time.

Language and setting

The place-name יְהוָה יִרְאֶה (YHVH yireh) is a causative form meaning 'YHVH will see/provide.' The naming act is quintessentially biblical—places and events are named to commemorate their theological significance. The narrative's parenthetical note—'so to this day it is said'—grounds the story in lived tradition, suggesting this narrative was recited as an etiological account explaining a real place's sacred significance in Abraham's cultural memory.

Voice

The narrator reports Abraham's act of naming and then editorializes, inserting a temporal marker that extends the story's relevance.

Significance

The naming crystallizes the lesson: divine provision is not one-time but characteristic of God's covenant relationship. The place becomes a pilgrimage site, a material anchor for the story's theological meaning.

12“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”

13Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

14And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

15And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time,

16saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son,

Read all of Genesis 22 — Abraham faces an impossible request. This chapter casts a long shadow over everything that follows.