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32 ·Do I need to give more examples [L What more shall I say]? I do not have time to tell you about Gideon [Judg. 6—8], Barak [Judg. 4], Samson [Judg. 13—16], Jephthah [Judg. 10:6—12:15], David [1 Sam. 16—1 Kin. 2], Samuel [1 Sam. 1—16], and the prophets. 33 Through their faith they defeated kingdoms. They ·did what was right [practiced righteousness; or administered justice], received ·God’s promises [or what God promised], and shut the mouths of lions [Dan. 6]. 34 They ·stopped [quenched; extinguished] great fires and ·were saved [escaped; fled] from being killed with swords. ·They were weak, and yet were made strong [Their strength was turned to weakness; or They recovered from illnesses]. They were powerful in battle and ·defeated [routed; drove back] ·other [foreign] armies. 35 Women received their dead relatives raised back to life [1 Kin. 17:22; 2 Kin. 4:35]. [But] Others were tortured and refused to accept ·their freedom [release; redemption] so they could ·be raised from the dead [gain/obtain a resurrection] to a better life. 36 Some were ·laughed at [mocked] and ·beaten [flogged; scourged]. Others were put in chains and thrown into prison [Gen. 39:20; Jer. 20:2; 37:15]. 37 They were stoned to death [1 Kin. 21:13], they were ·cut [sawn] in half [C Jewish tradition reported that Isaiah was martyred this way],[a] and they were killed with swords [1 Kin. 19:10; Jer. 26:23]. Some ·wore [L traveled about in] the skins of sheep and goats. They were ·poor [destitute], ·abused [persecuted; oppressed], and treated badly. 38 The world was not ·good enough for [worthy of] them! They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and holes in the earth.

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Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 11:37 they were cut in half Some Greek copies also include, “they were tested.”

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,(A) 33 who by faith [that is, with an enduring trust in God and His promises] subdued kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promised blessings, closed the mouths of lions,(B) 34 extinguished the power of [raging] fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty and unbeatable in battle, putting enemy forces to flight.(C) 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life;(D) 36 and others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging [amid torture], and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned [to death], they were sawn in two, they were lured with tempting offers [to renounce their faith], they were put to death by the sword; they went about wrapped in the skins of sheep and goats, utterly destitute, oppressed, cruelly treated 38 (people of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and [living in] caves and holes in the ground.

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