Hebrews 11:4-6
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
4 [a]By faith Abel offered to God a sacrifice greater than Cain’s. Through this he was attested to be righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts, and through this, though dead, he still speaks.(A) 5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and “he was found no more because God had taken him.” Before he was taken up, he was attested to have pleased God.(B) 6 [b]But without faith it is impossible to please him,(C) for anyone who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
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- 11:4 The “Praise of the Ancestors” in Sir 44:1–50:21 gives a similar list of heroes. The Cain and Abel narrative in Gn 4:1–16 does not mention Abel’s faith. It says, however, that God “looked with favor on Abel and his offering” (Gn 4:4); in view of Hb 11:6 the author probably understood God’s favor to have been activated by Abel’s faith. Though dead, he still speaks: possibly because his blood “cries out to me from the soil” (Gn 4:10), but more probably a way of saying that the repeated story of Abel provides ongoing witness to faith.
- 11:6 One must believe not only that God exists but that he is concerned about human conduct; the Old Testament defines folly as the denial of this truth; cf. Ps 52:2.
Hebrews 11:4-6
New International Version
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended(A) as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.(B) And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.(C)
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.”[a](D) For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him(E) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Footnotes
- Hebrews 11:5 Gen. 5:24
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