Hebrews 11

When people trust God, it makes them sure that they will receive what they confidently expect. {When people trust God,} it makes them certain about things that they do not see.

In fact, because the Israelite ancestors trusted God, he approved of them.

Because we trust God, we recognize that, by speaking, God set up everything that exists. So then, the things we see did not come from other things we can see. \*

Because he trusted God, Adam’s son Abel presented a more acceptable offering to God than did his older brother Cain. Because he trusted God, God approved of him for what he presented and declared that he did what was right. Although Abel died, we can still learn from how he trusted God. \*

Because Enoch trusted God, God took him {to heaven}, and so he never died. As {Moses wrote,} “No one could find him. That is because God took him {to heaven}.” Now before God took {Enoch to heaven}, he declared that Enoch pleased him.

In fact, people can only please God when they trust him. {That is} because people who go closer to God have to believe that he is real and that he will reward people who want to serve and worship him. \*

Because he trusted God, Noah honored God {by believing him} when God revealed to him what he could not yet experience. So, Noah built the ark to rescue his family {from the flood that God would send}. Since Noah trusted God {in this way}, he proved that everyone else was guilty. Further, Noah became a person whom God made right with himself because Noah trusted him. \*

Because he trusted God, Abraham did what God said when God spoke to him. He left {his home} to travel to a location that God would soon make to be his new home. When he left {his home}, he did not even know exactly where {this new home would be}.

Because he trusted God, Abraham stayed in the country that God had promised {to give him}, but it was not yet his country. He lived with Isaac his son and Jacob his grandson in temporary shelters, {even though} God promised to all three of them {that he would give them this country}.

{Abraham lived like that} because he was looking forward to {living in} the secure and permanent {heavenly} city that God created. \*

Because he believed, Abraham was able to have a son with {his wife} Sarah even though he was old enough that he could not normally have had a child. {That happened} because he reckoned that God would certainly do what he said.

So then, even though he was very old, Abraham had many descendants, {the Israelites}. {Just as God promised,} there are as many {Israelites} as there are many stars in the sky and as there are many grains of sand on a beach by the ocean. \*

All those people trusted God until they died. {While they lived,} they did not experience what God had promised {to give them}, but they knew that God would soon do what he had promised. They showed everyone that they did not really belong in this world.

Indeed, all people who speak what they spoke {about not belonging in this world} show clearly that they desire {to live in} their own country. \*

But suppose these {faithful people} considered the country they had left {to be their own country}. In that case, they could have gone back there{, but they did not}.

But here is what is true {about them}: they longed for a greater country that is in heaven. Because of that, it honors God when other people describe him as the God of these people {who trusted him}. {You can tell that this is true,} because God has made a city for them {to live in}. \*

Because he trusted God, when God tested him, Abraham would have presented {his son} Isaac {as an offering}. Indeed, the man to whom God promised {many descendants} was about to present {as an offering} the only child {he and his wife Sarah had}.

{In fact,} God {had already} said to Abraham, “The many descendants {that I promised to give you} will come from {your son} Isaac.”

{Abraham acted in this way because} he reckoned that God could make dead people alive again. In fact, in a manner of speaking, Abraham did get Isaac back after he had died. \*

Because he trusted God, Isaac blessed {his sons} Jacob and Esau, declaring what would happen {to each of them}.

Because he trusted God, when he was about to die, Jacob blessed both sons of {his son} Joseph. He praised God while he leaned on his walking stick.

Because he trusted God, when he was about to die, Joseph spoke about how the Israelites would leave {the land of Egypt}. Also, he commanded {them to take} his bones {with them when they left}. \*

Because they trusted God, Moses’ father and mother kept Moses hidden for 13 weeks after he was born. They bravely disobeyed what the king {of Egypt} commanded {about killing the sons of the Israelites}. {They did that} because they could tell that Moses was a good child.

Because he trusted God, when he grew up, Moses rejected how he was living as the {adopted} son of one {of the daughters} of the king of Egypt.

He decided to experience how people mistreated God’s people rather than to enjoy sinning for a little while.

He reckoned that people insulting him because of the Messiah was more valuable than all the valuable things in {the land of} Egypt. {He thought in this way,} because he focused on how God would reward him. \*

Because he trusted God, Moses departed from {the land of} Egypt. He was not afraid of {what} the king {would do} while he was angry. {He acted in that way,} because he continued {to trust God as completely} as if he could see God, who is invisible.

Because he trusted God, Moses led the Israelites in celebrating the {first} Passover festival and spreading blood {from lambs on their doors}. {They did that} so that the spiritual being who killed the eldest children {of the Egyptians} would not kill their {eldest children}. \*

Because they trusted God, the Israelites walked across the Sea of Reeds like {they were walking on} hard ground {when God made a path for them}. Then, when the Egyptians tried to follow, they drowned in the water {when God covered the path}.

Because the Israelites trusted God, he broke down the walls {around the city} of Jericho after the Israelites {repeatedly} marched around the city during one week.

Because she trusted God, Rahab, who was a prostitute, kept the spies {whom Joshua had sent} safe. {Because she did that,} the Israelites did not kill her when they killed {everyone else who lived in Jericho}, everyone who did not obey {God}. \*

I cannot now say any more about this. Indeed, I do not have the time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the {other} prophets.

Because such people trusted God, some of them defeated foreign armies. Others ruled justly. Others received what God had promised. Others kept lions from eating them.

Others stopped fire from burning them. Others survived when someone violently attacked them. Others became powerful when they were weak. Others fought their enemies powerfully. Others completely defeated soldiers from other countries. \*

Some women experienced how God made their {family members} who had died to become alive again. However, other people experienced how others intentionally hurt them {to make them disobey God}. They kept obeying God despite that. That way, God would make them alive again so that they could never die.

Further, other people suffered when others made fun of them or struck their backs with ropes. Sometimes, rulers even arrested them and put them in jail.

People killed these {faithful people} by throwing rocks at them or by cutting them in half. People tempted them {to disobey God}. People killed them with swords. These {faithful people} wandered around wearing only animal skins. They had nothing, and people persecuted them and treated them badly.

{People treated them like that even though} they did not deserve to live in the same place with those who trusted God. {Despite that,} these faithful people had to live in wilderness places, on hills, and in caves in the earth. \*

Although God approved of all these people because they trusted him, he did not {yet} give them what he had promised {to give them}.

Rather, God prepared ahead of time to give us something greater {than what those people received while they lived}. That way, only when we and they are all together will we all be what God wants us to be. \*