(ד) אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אַחַר הִרְהוּרֵי דְבָרִים שֶׁהָיוּ שָׁם, מִי הִרְהֵר אַבְרָהָם הִרְהֵר וְאָמַר שָׂמַחְתִּי וְשִׂמַּחְתִּי אֶת הַכֹּל וְלֹא הִפְרַשְׁתִּי לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לֹא פַּר אֶחָד וְלֹא אַיִל אֶחָד. אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל מְנָת שֶׁנֹּאמַר לְךָ שֶׁתַּקְרִיב אֶת בִּנְךָ וְלֹא תְעַכֵּב, עַל דַּעְתֵּיהּ דְּרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר דְּאָמַר, אֱלֹהִים וְהָאֱלֹהִים, הוּא וּבֵית דִּינוֹ, מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת אָמְרוּ, אַבְרָהָם זֶה שָׂמַח וְשִׂמַּח אֶת הַכֹּל וְלֹא הִפְרִישׁ לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לֹא פַּר אֶחָד וְלֹא אַיִל אֶחָד. אָמַר לָהֶן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עַל מְנָת שֶׁנֹּאמַר לוֹ שֶׁיַּקְרִיב אֶת בְּנוֹ וְלֹא יְעַכֵּב. יִצְחָק וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל הָיוּ מִדַּיְּנִים זֶה עִם זֶה, זֶה אוֹמֵר אֲנִי חָבִיב מִמְךָ שֶׁנִּמַּלְתִּי לִשְׁלשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה, וְזֶה אָמַר חָבִיב אֲנִי מִמְךָ שֶׁנִּמַּלְתִּי לִשְׁמוֹנָה יָמִים. אָמַר לֵיהּ יִשְׁמָעֵאל אֲנִי חָבִיב מִמְךָ, לָמָּה שֶׁהָיָה סִפֵּק בְּיָדִי לִמְחוֹת וְלֹא מָחִיתִי. בְּאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה אָמַר יִצְחָק הַלְּוַאי הָיָה נִגְלָה עָלַי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְאוֹמֵר לִי שֶׁאֶחְתֹּךְ אֶחָד מֵאֵבָרַי וְלֹא אֲעַכֵּב, מִיָּד וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם.
[נֻסַּח אַחֵר: אָמַר לוֹ יִשְׁמָעֵאל, אֲנִי חָבִיב מִמְךָ שֶׁנִּמַּלְתִּי לִשְׁלשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה, אֲבָל אַתָּה נִמַּלְתָּ בְּקָטְנְךָ וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לִמְחוֹת. אָמַר לוֹ יִצְחָק כָּל מַה שֶּׁהִלְוֵיתָ לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שְׁלשָׁה טִפִּים דַּם הֵם, אֶלָּא הֲרֵינִי עַכְשָׁו בֶּן שְׁלשִׁים וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנָה אִלּוּ מְבַקֵּשׁ לִי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְהִשָּׁחֵט אֵינִי מְעַכֵּב, אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הֲרֵי הַשָּׁעָה, מִיָּד וְהָאֱלֹהִים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם.]
(4) After these things — misgivings were experienced on that occasion. Who then had misgivings? Avraham, saying to himself: ‘I have rejoiced and made all others rejoice, yet I did not set aside a single bullock or ram for the Holy One of Blessing.’ Said the Holy One of Blessing to him: ‘I know that even if you were commanded to offer your only son to Me, you would not refuse.’ - this is according to Rabbi Eleazar who said that the employment of va-e-lohim where E-lohim would suffice, implies both God and God’s Court. It was the ministering angels who spoke thus: ‘This Avraham rejoiced and made all others rejoice, yet did not set aside for the Holy One of Blessing a single bullock or ram.’ Said the Holy One of Blessing to them: ‘Even if we tell him to offer his own son, he will not refuse.’ Itzchak and Ishmael were engaged in a dispute: the latter argued, ‘I am more beloved than you, because I was circumcised at the age of thirteen’; while the other retorted, ‘I am more beloved than you, because I was circumcised at eight days.’ Said Ishmael to him: ‘I am more beloved, because I could have protested, yet I did not.’ At that moment Itzchak exclaimed: ‘O that God would appear to me and bid me cut off one of my limbs! then I would not refuse.’ Said God: ‘Even if I bid you sacrifice yourself, you will not refuse.’ [Another version: Said Ishmael to him: ‘I am more beloved than you, since I as circumcised at the age of thirteen, but you were circumcised as a baby and could not refuse.’ Itzchak retorted: ‘All that you did lend to the Holy One of Blessing was three drops of blood. But look, I am now thirty-seven years old, yet if God desired of me that I be slaughtered, I would not refuse.’ Said the Holy One of Blessing ‘This is the moment!’ Straightway, “God tested Avraham”.]
Can't be after Avimelech stuff, that was 12 years ago
(כא) ויבוא השר משטמה ויאמר לפני האלוהים הנה אברהם אוהב ומוקיר את בנו יצחק מכל:
(כב) אמור אליו להקריב אותו לעולה על המזבח וראה תראה אם יעשה את הדבר הזה למען תדע אם נאמנה רוחו בכל אשר תנסהו:
(כג) ואלוהים ידע כי נאמנה רוח אברהם בכל הפגעים אשר הביא עליו כי נסה אותו בעושר המלכים ואחרי כן באשתו בהלקחה ממנו:
(כד) ואחרי כן בישמעאל והגר אמתו בשלחו אותם ובכל אשר נסהו מצא את לבבו נאמן לפניו:
(כה) ולא המרה את רוחו ולא אחר לעשותו כי היה נאמן ואת ה' אהב:
(21) And the prince Mastêmâ came and said before God, "Behold, Abraham loveth Isaac his son, and he delighteth in him above all things else;
(22) bid him offer him as a burnt-offering on the altar, and Thou wilt see if he will do this command, and Thou wilt know if he is faithful in everything wherein Thou dost try him."
(23) And the Lord knew that Abraham was faithful in all his afflictions; for He had tried him through his country and with famine, and had tried him with the wealth of kings, and had tried him again through his wife, when she was torn (from him),
(24) and with circumcision, and had tried him through Ishmael and Hagar, his maid-servant, when he sent them away.
And in everything wherein He had tried him, he was found faithful,
(25) and his soul was not impatient, and he was not slow to act; for he was faithful and a lover of the Lord.
(א) ויאמר ה' אל אברהם לאמור אברהם ויאמר הנני:
(ב) ויאמר אליו קח את בנך האהוב את יצחק ולך לך אל הר גבוה והעלהו על אחד ההרים אשר אומר אליך:
(1) And God said to him, "Abraham, Abraham"; and he said, "Behold, (here) am I."
(2) And He said, "Take thy beloved son whom thou lovest, (even) Isaac, and go unto the high country, and offer him on one of the mountains which I will point out unto thee."
https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/october-2009/isaac-the-first-lamb-of-god-features-october-09-geza-vermes/
Dead Sea Scroll fragments (4Q225-226) surfaced from Cave 4 (Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, XIII, 1995), in which important details of the Aqedah story have survived. The work is definitely pre-Christian: the script belongs to the second half of the first century BCE, but the composition most likely comes from the mid-second century BCE. I give here my translation of the poorly preserved document.
Some of the gaps are filled in with the help of the Bible or the Book of Jubilees. Essential comments are inserted between square brackets.
And a son was born af(ter)wards (to Abraha)m and he called his name Isaac. And the prince Ma(s)temah (=Satan) came (to G)od and accused Abraham on account of Isaac.
[On hearing the heavenly praises of Abraham’s love of God, Satan suggests that Abraham should sacrifice his son.]
And (G)od said (to Abra)ham, ‘Take your son, Isaac, (your) only (son) (whom) you (love) and offer him to me as a burnt offering on one of the … mountains (which I will tell) you.’ And he ro(se and he we)n(t) from the Wells
[The author probably interprets the name of the town of Beer Sheba as “seven wells”.]
to Mo(unt Moriah)…. And Ab(raham]) lifted up his (ey)es (and behold there was) a fire.
[The Palestinian Targums speak of a “cloud of glory” that identifies the mountain. The Midrash, Pirke d’Rabbi Eleazar reads: “He saw a pillar of fire (rising) from the earth to heaven.”]
And he placed (the wood on Isaac, his son, and they went together). And Isaac said to Abraham, (his father, “Behold there is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb) for the burnt offering?” And Abraham said to (Isaac, his son, “God will provide a lamb) for himself. Isaac said to his father, ‘K(pwt)…”
[There is no second address of Isaac to Abraham in the Bible. By contrast the targumic and midrashic traditions testify to such an additional speech by Isaac. Of Isaac’s opening word only the first letter, is legible, but there is space for 15 more letters. This opening letter is a K (kaph).
In all the surviving Targums and in the Midrash on Genesis Isaac’s speech begins with the verb kpwt: “Tie”, namely, “Tie my hands properly.”]
... the holy angels standing (and) weeping over…
[No mention of holy angels is found in Genesis 22, but it is standard in the Palestinian Targums: “The eyes of Isaac were looking on the angels on high.” Other texts allude to the tears of the ministering angels.]
…his sons from the earth.
And the angels of S(atan)…were rejoicing and saying, “Now he (Isaac) will be destroyed…
[Satan’s associates are delighted by the prospect of Isaac’s death.]
whether he will be found weak and whether A(braham) will be found unfaithful (to God. And he called,) “Abraham, Abraham.” And he said, “Here am I.” And he said… he (Abraham) is not a lover (of God).
[The missing words are probably those of God to Satan, e.g. “Now I know that you have lied that he is not a lover (of God).” The Midrash on Genesis positively formulates the statement: “I have made it known to all that you (Abraham) love me.”]
And the Lord God blessed Is(aac all the days of his life and he begot) Jacob, and Jacob begot Levi (in the (third) genera(tion. And all) the days of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Lev(i were…years).
[In the Bible God blesses Abraham. The change of subject suits well the leading role granted to Isaac in the Targums.]