Hebrews 11

11:1 Faith, that is, trust in God, is the foundation of what we hope for. It is being completely sure of what we do not yet see. 11:2 The people who lived long ago by trust in him, pleased God. 11:3 By our trust in God, we understand that he made the world by his word of command (Genesis 1). He made all the things that we see out of things that do not appear.

11:4 Because of his trust in God, Abel made a better sacrifice to God than the one made by Cain. God accepted Abel as a righteous man when he spoke well about his sacrifice. Abel died but, by his trust in God, he still speaks (Genesis 4:1-8). 11:5 By his trust in God, Enoch went straight to heaven without having to die. Nobody could find him, because God had taken him away. Before God took him, God said that he was well pleased with him (Genesis 5:24). 11:6 If a person does not trust in God, he cannot please him. All who come to God must believe that he exists. They must believe that he rewards all who want to find him. 11:7 God warned Noah about things that he had not yet seen (Genesis 6:11-14). He trusted what God said would happen. He made a large boat so that his family would be safe. In this way, Noah showed up the rest of the world as evil. God made Noah right with him because of his trust.

11:8 God called Abraham to go away to a place that he would have as his own. Because Abraham trusted God, he did what God told him to do (Genesis 12:1). He set off, although he did not yet know where he was to go. 11:9 Because of his trust in God, he lived like a stranger in the land that God had promised to give him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise. 11:10 For he was expecting the city with foundations that God would arrange and build. 11:11 Sarah, his wife, was too old to have children. Yet, she trusted God when he said that she would have a child. She had a son. 11:12 Abraham also was too old to be the father of a child. Yet from this man, who was as good as dead, came a large family. They were as many as the stars of the sky and as the sand by the sea (Genesis 15:1-5).

11:13 These all died, still strong in their trust in God. They did not receive the things that God had promised. They only saw them far away and were glad. They said that they were strangers here. The earth was not their real home. 11:14 People who say such things show that they look for a country of their own. 11:15 If they had been thinking of the land from which they came, they could have gone back there. 11:16 No, they greatly desired to go to a much better place, that is, a place in heaven. So God is not ashamed to be their God. He has prepared a city for them.

11:17 Abraham trusted God when God tested him. When God asked him, he was ready to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice. Yet in this son were all the promises of God. 11:18 For God had said to him, ‘It is by Isaac that your family will come’ (Genesis 21:12). 11:19 Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead to life. So it was just as if he did receive Isaac back from death.

11:20 Isaac trusted God, so he told Jacob and Esau about the good things to come (Genesis 27:27-40). 11:21 Jacob trusted in God. When he was dying, he blessed both the sons of Joseph (Genesis 48). He leaned on his stick and praised God. 11:22 By his faith in God, when his end was near, Joseph spoke of the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt. He told them to carry his bones with them (Genesis 50:24-25).

11:23 The parents of Moses trusted in God, so they hid him for three months after his birth. They could see that he was not an ordinary child. They were not afraid of the orders of the king (Exodus 2:1-10). 11:24 When he grew up, Moses refused to accept that he was the son of the king’s daughter. He did this because he trusted in God (Exodus 2:11-15). 11:25 He chose to suffer with the people of God. He could have chosen to have an easy life and enjoy sin, for a short time. 11:26 He decided that to suffer insults for the Christ was worth much more to him than the riches of Egypt. He kept thinking about the reward. 11:27 Because he trusted in God, he left Egypt and did not fear the anger of the king. He was strong, for it was as if he could see him whom nobody can see. 11:28 By faith in God he kept the Passover and put blood on the door-posts. This was so that the angel of death would not touch the oldest son in each of their families (Exodus 12).

11:29 The people trusted God and so they all went across the Red Sea in safety, as if on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do the same, they drowned (Exodus 14:29-31). 11:30 It was by trust in God that the people marched round the city of Jericho. After 7 days, the walls fell down (Joshua 6). 11:31 Rahab was a woman who had used her body for sex to get money. She welcomed the men who came from Joshua to discover how to attack her city. She trusted in God, so she did not die with the rest who did not obey God (Joshua 2).

11:32 What more shall I say about those people who trusted God? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. 11:33 By their faith in God they overcame kings. They made fair laws. They gained what God promised. They shut the mouths of lions and so did not die. 11:34 They put out fierce fires, and they escaped from men who wanted to kill them with the sword. When they were weak, God made them strong again. They were so strong in war that they overcame foreign armies. 11:35 Women received back their dead, whom God raised to life again. Some suffered death by cruel enemies. They could have escaped by saying that they no longer trusted God. But they refused, so that they might gain a better life. 11:36 Some suffered insults and attacks, and some went to prison in chains. 11:37 Enemies threw stones at them, or cut them in pieces, or killed them with the sword. Some had to wear the skins of sheep and goats because they were so poor. People who did not trust God were bad to them and caused them to suffer. 11:38 Those who did trust God were too good for this world. Some wandered over deserts and mountains. Some lived in caves and holes in the ground.

11:39 God spoke well of all of these, because they trusted him. Yet none of them received during their life on earth what God had promised. 11:40 God has a better plan. He will not make them perfect without us.