Hebrews 11

Faith That Keeps Moving

1 Faith is confidence in what we hope for and conviction about what we cannot yet see.

2 That kind of faith is what gave the people of old a good testimony.

3 By faith, we understand that God formed the universe by His word, so what we see came from what cannot be seen.

4 By faith, Abel brought God a better sacrifice than Cain. God approved his gift and declared him righteous. Though Abel died, his faith still speaks.

5 By faith, Enoch was taken away without seeing death. Nobody could find him because God took him, and before that happened, he was known as somebody who pleased God.

6 Without faith, pleasing God is impossible. Anyone who comes to Him must believe He exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.

7 By faith, Noah took God’s warning about unseen events seriously and built an ark to save his family. His faith exposed the world’s unbelief and made him an heir of righteousness.

8 By faith, Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave for a place he would later inherit. He stepped out without knowing where he was going.

9 By faith, he lived like a foreigner in the promised land, staying in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who inherited that same promise.

10 He was looking forward to a city with permanent foundations, designed and built by God.

11 By faith, Sarah received strength to have a child even though she was past the normal age, because she trusted the One who made the promise.

12 So from one man, practically as good as dead, came descendants as countless as the stars in the sky and the sand along the shore.

13 All these people died still trusting God. They did not receive everything promised, but they saw it from a distance, welcomed it, and admitted they were strangers and travelers on earth.

14 People who speak that way make it clear they are looking for a true homeland.

15 If they had kept thinking about the place they left, they could have gone back.

16 Instead, they desired a better country, a heavenly one. God is not ashamed to be called their God, because He prepared a city for them.

17 By faith, Abraham offered Isaac when God tested him. The man who received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son.

18 God had told him, “Your promised family line will come through Isaac.”

19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and in a picture, he received Isaac back from death.

20 By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.

21 By faith, dying Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped while leaning on his staff.

22 By faith, Joseph spoke about Israel’s future exodus when his end was near and gave instructions about his bones.

23 By faith, Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born. They saw he was a special child and refused to fear the king’s command.

24 By faith, when Moses grew up, he refused to be known as Pharaoh’s daughter’s son.

25 He chose mistreatment alongside God’s people instead of enjoying sin’s temporary pleasure.

26 He considered disgrace for Christ greater wealth than Egypt’s treasures because he was focused on the reward.

27 By faith, he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger. He kept going because he saw the One who cannot be seen.

28 By faith, he kept the Passover and applied the blood so the destroyer would not touch Israel’s firstborn.

29 By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. When the Egyptians tried it, the water swallowed them.

30 By faith, Jericho’s walls fell after Israel marched around them for seven days.

31 By faith, Rahab the prostitute welcomed the spies in peace and did not die with the disobedient.

32 What else should I say, I do not have time to tell every story about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets.

33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, practiced justice, received promises, and shut lions’ mouths.

34 They quenched raging fire, escaped the sword, found strength in weakness, became powerful in battle, and sent foreign armies running.

35 Women received their dead back through resurrection. Others were tortured and refused release because they were reaching for a better resurrection.

36 Still others endured mocking, whipping, chains, and prison.

37 They were stoned, sawed apart, tested, and killed by the sword. They wandered in sheepskins and goatskins, poor, oppressed, and mistreated.

38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered through deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.

39 All these people received a good testimony through faith, yet they did not receive the completed promise in their lifetime.

40 God planned something better that included us, so they would not reach completion apart from us.