Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for^(A) and assurance about what we do not see.^(B)

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.^(A) He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[a](B) 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(C) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.^(D)

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

²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.^(F)

²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born,^(G) because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.^(H)