Hebrews 11:8–32

⁸By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going. ⁹By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. ¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised. ¹²And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

¹³All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

¹⁴Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 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,