16 This is what the Lord says:

“Stand at the crossroads and look;
    ask for the ancient paths,(A)
ask where the good way(B) is, and walk in it,
    and you will find rest(C) for your souls.
    But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Read full chapter

16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Read full chapter

15 Yet my people have forgotten(A) me;
    they burn incense(B) to worthless idols,(C)
which made them stumble(D) in their ways,
    in the ancient paths.(E)
They made them walk in byways,
    on roads not built up.(F)

Read full chapter

15 Because my people hath forgotten me, they have burned incense to vanity, and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths, to walk in paths, in a way not cast up;

Read full chapter

Remember the days of old;(A)
    consider the generations long past.(B)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
    your elders, and they will explain to you.(C)

Read full chapter

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

Read full chapter

21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice(A) behind you, saying, “This is the way;(B) walk in it.”

Read full chapter

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Read full chapter

23 but I gave them this command:(A) Obey(B) me, and I will be your God and you will be my people.(C) Walk in obedience to all(D) I command you, that it may go well(E) with you.

Read full chapter

23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Read full chapter

28 “Come to me,(A) all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.(B) 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,(C) for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.(D)

Read full chapter

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Read full chapter

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,(A) continue to live your lives in him,

Read full chapter

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

Read full chapter

Come, descendants of Jacob,(A)
    let us walk in the light(B) of the Lord.

Read full chapter

O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Read full chapter

“Remember the law(A) of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb(B) for all Israel.(C)

Read full chapter

Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Read full chapter

35 Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light(A) just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light,(B) before darkness overtakes you.(C) Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.

Read full chapter

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Read full chapter

16 “We will not listen(A) to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!(B)

Read full chapter

16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.

Read full chapter

21 I warned you when you felt secure,(A)
    but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;(B)
    you have not obeyed(C) me.

Read full chapter

21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.

Read full chapter

This is what the ancients were commended for.(A)

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

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

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](F) For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him(G) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen,(H) in holy fear built an ark(I) to save his family.(J) By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.(K)

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,(L) obeyed and went,(M) even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land(N) like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents,(O) as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.(P) 10 For he was looking forward to the city(Q) with foundations,(R) whose architect and builder is God.(S) 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age,(T) was enabled to bear children(U) because she[b] considered him faithful(V) who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead,(W) came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.(X)

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised;(Y) they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance,(Z) admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.(AA) 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.(AB) 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.(AC) Therefore God is not ashamed(AD) to be called their God,(AE) for he has prepared a city(AF) for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.(AG) 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.”[c](AH) 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead,(AI) and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.(AJ)

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons,(AK) and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.(AL)

23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born,(AM) because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.(AN)

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.(AO) 25 He chose to be mistreated(AP) along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace(AQ) for the sake of Christ(AR) as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.(AS) 27 By faith he left Egypt,(AT) not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer(AU) of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.(AV)

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.(AW)

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.(AX)

31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.[d](AY)

32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon,(AZ) Barak,(BA) Samson(BB) and Jephthah,(BC) about David(BD) and Samuel(BE) and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms,(BF) administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,(BG) 34 quenched the fury of the flames,(BH) and escaped the edge of the sword;(BI) whose weakness was turned to strength;(BJ) and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.(BK) 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again.(BL) 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,(BM) and even chains and imprisonment.(BN) 37 They were put to death by stoning;[e](BO) they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.(BP) They went about in sheepskins and goatskins,(BQ) destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves(BR) and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended(BS) for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised,(BT) 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us(BU) would they be made perfect.(BV)

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run(BW) with perseverance(BX) the race marked out for us,

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 11:5 Gen. 5:24
  2. Hebrews 11:11 Or By faith Abraham, even though he was too old to have children—and Sarah herself was not able to conceive—was enabled to become a father because he
  3. Hebrews 11:18 Gen. 21:12
  4. Hebrews 11:31 Or unbelieving
  5. Hebrews 11:37 Some early manuscripts stoning; they were put to the test;

For by it the elders obtained a good report.

Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

12 Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.

16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

22 By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;

25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.

31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.

34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,