Hebrews 11:16–39

¹⁶Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar . He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,^{c 18}even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”^{d 19}Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

²¹By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

²²By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.

²³By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict.

²⁴By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin. ²⁶He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

²⁷By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn .

²⁹By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow,^e they were drowned.

³⁰By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

³¹By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

³²And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

³⁷They were stoned, they were sawed in two,^f they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.