⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a](A)

⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith^(B) are children of Abraham.^{(C) 8} Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[b](D) 9} So those who rely on faith^(E) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.^(F)

¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law^(G) are under a curse,^(H) as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”^{[c](I) 11} Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God,^(J) because “the righteous will live by faith.”^{[d](K) 12} The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[e](L) 13} Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law^(M) by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”^{[f](N) 14} He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,^(O) so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.^(P)

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,^(A) obeyed and went,^(B) even though he did not know where he was going. ⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land^(C) like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents,^(D) as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.^{(E) 10} For he was looking forward to the city^(F) with foundations,^(G) whose architect and builder is God.^{(H) 11} And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,^(I) was enabled to bear children^(J) because she^[a] considered him faithful^(K) who had made the promise. ¹² And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,^(L) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.^(M)

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;^(N) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,^(O) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.^{(P) 14} People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.^{(Q) 16} Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.^(R) Therefore God is not ashamed^(S) to be called their God,^(T) for he has prepared a city^(U) for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.^(V) 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.”^{[b](W) 19} Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,^(X) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.