Hebrews 11-13

The Voice

11 Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen. ² It was by faith that our forebears were approved. ³ Through faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God; everything we now see was fashioned from that which is invisible.

⁴ By faith Abel presented to God a sacrifice more acceptable than his brother Cain’s. By faith Abel learned he was righteous, as God Himself testified by approving his offering. And by faith he still speaks, although his voice was silenced by death.

⁵ By faith Enoch was carried up into heaven so that he did not see death; no one could find him because God had taken him. Before he was taken up, it was said of him that he had pleased God. ⁶ Without faith no one can please God because the one coming to God must believe He exists, and He rewards those who come seeking.

⁷ By faith Noah respected God’s warning regarding the flood—the likes of which no one had ever seen—and built an ark that saved his family. In this he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham heard God’s call to travel to a place he would one day receive as an inheritance; and he obeyed, not knowing where God’s call would take him. ⁹ By faith he journeyed to the land of the promise as a foreigner; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, his fellow heirs to the promise ¹⁰ because Abraham looked ahead to a city with foundations, a city laid out and built by God.

¹¹ By faith Abraham’s wife Sarah became fertile long after menopause because she believed God would be faithful to His promise. ¹² So from this man, who was almost at death’s door, God brought forth descendants, as many as the stars in the sky and as impossible to count as the sands of the shore.

¹³ All these I have mentioned died in faith without receiving the full promises, although they saw the fulfillment as though from a distance. These people accepted and confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on this earth ¹⁴ because people who speak like this make it plain that they are still seeking a homeland. ¹⁵ If this was only a bit of nostalgia for a time and place they left behind, then certainly they might have turned around and returned. ¹⁶ But such saints as these look forward to a far better place, a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared a heavenly city for them.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he endured God’s testing, offered his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice. The one who had received God’s promise was willing to offer his only son; ¹⁸ God had told him, “It is through Isaac that your descendants will bear your name,”^{[a] 19} and he concluded that God was capable of raising him from the dead, which, figuratively, is indeed what happened.

²⁰ By faith Isaac spoke blessings upon his sons, Jacob and Esau, concerning things yet to come.

²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed the sons of his son Joseph, bowing in worship as he leaned upon his staff.^[b]

²² By faith Joseph, at his life’s end, predicted that the children of Israel would make an exodus from Egypt; and he gave instructions that his bones be buried in the land they would someday reach.

²³ By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw that he was handsome; and they did not fear Pharaoh’s directive that all male Hebrew children were to be slain.

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be identified solely as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter ²⁵ and chose instead to share the sufferings of the people of God, not just living in sin and ease for a time. ²⁶ He considered the abuse that he and the people of God had suffered in anticipation of the Anointed One more valuable than all the riches of Egypt because he looked ahead to the coming reward.

²⁷ By faith Moses left Egypt, unafraid of Pharaoh’s wrath and moving forward as though he could see the invisible God. ²⁸ Through faith, he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts among the Hebrews so that the destroyer of the firstborn would pass over their homes without harming them. ²⁹ By faith the people crossed through the Red Sea as if they were walking on dry land, although the pursuing Egyptian soldiers were drowned when they tried to follow.

³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho toppled after the people had circled them for seven days. ³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab welcomed the Hebrew spies into her home so that she did not perish with the unbelievers.

³² I could speak more of faith; I could talk until time itself ran out. If I continued, I could speak of the examples of Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and all the prophets. ³³ I could give accounts of people alive with faith who conquered kingdoms, brought justice, obtained promises, and closed the mouths of hungry lions. ³⁴ I could tell you how people of faith doused raging fires, escaped the edge of the sword, made the weak strong, and—stoking great valor among the champions of God—sent opposing armies into panicked flight.

³⁵ I could speak of faith bringing women their loved ones back from death and how the faithful accepted torture instead of earthly deliverance because they believed they would obtain a better life in the resurrection. ³⁶ Others suffered mockery and whippings; they were placed in chains and in prisons. ³⁷ The faithful were stoned, sawn in two,^[c] killed by the sword, clothed only in sheepskins and goatskins; they were penniless, afflicted, and tormented. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of these saints. They wandered across deserts, crossed mountains, and lived in the caves, cracks, and crevasses of the earth.

³⁹ These, though commended by God for their great faith, did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰ That promise has awaited us, who receive the better thing that God has provided in these last days, so that with us, our forebears might finally see the promise completed.

12 So since we stand surrounded by all those who have gone before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set before us.

² Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed and perfected our faith. He endured the cross and ignored the shame of that death because He focused on the joy that was set before Him; and now He is seated beside God on the throne, a place of honor.

³ Consider the life of the One who endured such personal attacks and hostility from sinners so that you will not grow weary or lose heart. ⁴ Among you, in your striving against sin, none has resisted the pressure to the point of death, as He did.

⁵ Indeed, you seem to have forgotten the proverb directed to you as children:

⁷ Endure hardship as God’s discipline and rejoice that He is treating you as His children, for what child doesn’t experience discipline from a parent? ⁸ But if you are not experiencing the correction that all true children receive, then it may be that you are not His children after all. ⁹ Remember, when our human parents disciplined us, we respected them. If that was true, shouldn’t we respect and live under the correction of the Father of all spirits even more? ¹⁰ Our parents corrected us for a time as seemed good to them, but God only corrects us to our good so that we may share in His holiness.

¹¹ When punishment is happening, it never seems pleasant, only painful. Later, though, it yields the peaceful fruit called righteousness to everyone who has been trained by it. ¹² So lift up your hands that are dangling and brace your weakened knees. ¹³ Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame in you won’t be put out of joint, but will heal.

¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, since no one will see God without it. ¹⁵ Watch carefully that no one falls short of God’s favor, that no well of bitterness springs up to trouble you and throw many others off the path. ¹⁶ Watch that no one becomes wicked and vile like Esau, the son of Isaac, who for a single meal sold his invaluable birthright. ¹⁷ You know from the stories of the patriarchs that later, when he wished to claim his blessing, he was turned away. He could not reverse his action even though he shed bitter tears over it.

¹⁸ You have not come to the place that can be touched (as Israel did at Mount Sinai)—to a mountain crowned with blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a windstorm— ¹⁹ or to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of a voice—a voice and message so harsh that the people begged not to hear another word. ²⁰ (They could not bear the command that was given: that if even a beast touches the mountain, it must be stoned. ²¹ The sight was so terrible that even Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”)^[e]

²² No, instead you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to heavenly messengers unnumbered, to a joyful feast, ²³ to the assembly of the firstborn registered as heaven’s citizens, to God the righteous Judge of all, and to the spirits of all the righteous who have been perfected. ²⁴ You have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant between God and humanity, and to His sprinkled blood, which speaks a greater word than the blood of Abel crying out from the earth.

²⁵ See that you don’t turn away from the One who is speaking; for if the ones who heard and refused the One who spoke on earth faced punishment, then how much more will we suffer if we turn away from the One speaking from heaven— ²⁶ the One whose voice in earlier times shook the earth now makes another promise: “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens”?^{[f] 27} The phrase, “Yet once more,” means that those things that can be shaken will be removed and taken away, namely, the first creation. As a result, those things that remain cannot be shaken. ²⁸ Therefore, let us all be thankful that we are a part of an unshakable Kingdom and offer to God worship that pleases Him and reflects the awe and reverence we have toward Him, ²⁹ for He is like a fierce fire that consumes everything.^[g]

13 Let love continue among you. ² Don’t forget to extend your hospitality to all—even to strangers—for as you know, some have unknowingly shown kindness to heavenly messengers in this way. ³ Remember those imprisoned for their beliefs as if you were their cellmate; and care for any who suffer harsh treatment, as you are all one body.

⁴ Hold marriage in high esteem, all of you, and keep the marriage bed pure because God will judge those who commit sexual sins.

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have because He has said, “I will never leave you; I will always be by your side.”^{[h] 6} Because of this promise, we may boldly say,

⁷ Listen to your leaders, who have spoken God’s word to you. Notice the fruits of their lives and mirror their faith.

⁸ Jesus the Anointed One is always the same: yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Do not be carried away by diverse and strange ways of believing or worshiping. It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about what you can eat (which do no good even for those who observe them). ¹⁰ We approach an altar from which those who stand before the altar in the tent have no right to eat. ¹¹ In the past, the bodies of those animals whose blood was carried into the sanctuary by the high priest to take away sin were all burned outside the camp. ¹² (In the same way, Jesus suffered and bled outside the city walls of Jerusalem to sanctify the people.)

¹³ Let’s then go out to Him and resolve to bear the insult and abuse that He endured. ¹⁴ For as long as we are here, we do not live in any permanent city, but are looking for the city that is to come.

¹⁵ Through Jesus, then, let us keep offering to God our own sacrifice, the praise of lips that confess His name without ceasing. ¹⁶ Let’s not neglect what is good and share what we have, for these sacrifices also please God.

¹⁷ Listen to your leaders and submit to their authority over the community, for they are on constant watch to protect your souls and someday they must give account. Give them reason to be joyful and not to regret their duty, for that will be of no good to you.

^18-19 Pray for us, for we have no doubt that our consciences are clean and that we seek to live honestly in all things. But please pray for me that I may be restored to you even more quickly.

²⁰ Now may the God of peace, who brought the great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, back from the dead through the blood of the new everlasting covenant, ²¹ perfect you in every good work as you work God’s will. May God do in you only those things that are pleasing in His sight through Jesus the Anointed, our Liberating King, to whom we give glory always and forever. Amen.

²² Please, brothers and sisters, pay attention to this word of exhortation, for I have written only a few words to you.

²³ I want to tell you that our brother Timothy has been set free; and if he arrives soon, he will come with me when I see you next.

²⁴ Give my greetings to your leaders and to all of God’s people. Those of Italy greet you.

²⁵ May grace always be with you.