Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for^(A) and assurance about what we do not see.^{(B) 2} This is what the ancients were commended for.^(C)

³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command,^(D) so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

⁴ By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended^(E) as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings.^(F) And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.^(G)

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](H) 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^(I) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again.^(A) There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. ³⁶ Some faced jeers and flogging,^(B) and even chains and imprisonment.^{(C) 37} They were put to death by stoning;^[a](D) they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.^(E) They went about in sheepskins and goatskins,^(F) destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves^(G) and in holes in the ground.

³⁹ These were all commended^(H) for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,^{(I) 40} since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us^(J) would they be made perfect.^(K)