Letter to the Hebrews 11

¹ Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of the realities that at present remain unseen.

² It was for faith that our ancestors were commended.

³ It is by faith that we understand that the world was created by one word from God, so that no apparent cause can account for the things we can see.

⁴ It was because of his faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for that he was declared to be righteous when God made acknowledgement of his offerings. Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith.

⁵ It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not have to experience death: he was not to be found because God had taken him.[*a] This was because before his assumption it is attested that he had pleased God.

⁶ Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who try to find him.

⁷ It was through his faith that Noah, when he had been warned by God of something that had never been seen before, felt a holy fear and built an ark to save his family. By his faith the world was convicted, and he was able to claim the righteousness which is the reward of faith.

⁸ It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going.

⁹ By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the Promised Land, and lived there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

¹⁰ They lived there in tents while he looked forward to a city founded, designed and built by God.

¹¹ It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be faithful to it.

¹² Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.[*b]

¹³ All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth.

¹⁴ People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland.

¹⁵ They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the opportunity to go back to it;

¹⁶ but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.

¹⁷ It was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac.[*c] He offered to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him

¹⁸ and he had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on.[*d]

¹⁹ He was confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.

²⁰ It was by faith that this same Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob and Esau for the still distant future.

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, leaning on the end of his stick as though bowing to pray.[*e]

²² It was by faith that, when he was about to die, Joseph recalled the Exodus of the Israelites and made the arrangements for his own burial.

²³ It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months; they defied the royal edict when they saw he was such a fine child.

²⁴ It was by faith that, when he grew to manhood, Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter

²⁵ and chose to be ill-treated in company with God’s people rather than to enjoy for a time the pleasures of sin.

²⁶ He considered that the insults offered to the Anointed were something more precious than all the treasures of Egypt, because he had his eyes fixed on the reward.

²⁷ It was by faith that he left Egypt and was not afraid of the king’s anger; he held to his purpose like a man who could see the Invisible.

²⁸ It was by faith that he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood to prevent the Destroyer from touching any of the first-born sons of Israel.

²⁹ It was by faith they crossed the Red Sea as easily as dry land, while the Egyptians, trying to do the same, were drowned.

³⁰ It was through faith that the walls of Jericho fell down when the people had been round them for seven days.

³¹ It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies and so was not killed with the unbelievers.

³² Is there any need to say more? There is not time for me to give an account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, or of David, Samuel and the prophets.

³³ These were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what is right and earned the promises. They could keep a lion’s mouth shut,

³⁴ put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength, to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders.

³⁵ Some came back to their wives from the dead, by resurrection; and others submitted to torture, refusing release so that they would rise again to a better life.

³⁶ Some had to bear being pilloried and flogged, or even chained up in prison.

³⁷ They were stoned, or sawn in half,[*f] or beheaded; they were homeless, and dressed in the skins of sheep and goats; they were penniless and were given nothing but ill-treatment.

³⁸ They were too good for the world and they went out to live in deserts and mountains and in caves and ravines.

³⁹ These are all heroes of faith, but they did not receive what was promised,

⁴⁰ since God had made provision for us to have something better, and they were not to reach perfection except with us.