¹⁸ Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations,^(A) just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”^[a](B)

²⁴ For in this hope we were saved.^(A) But hope that is seen is no hope at all.^(B) Who hopes for what they already have?

⁵ And hope^(A) does not put us to shame, because God’s love^(B) has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,^(C) who has been given to us.

⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars^(A)—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring^[a] be.”^(B)

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.^(C)

²⁵ So keep up your courage,^(A) men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.^(B)

³⁵ While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader.^(A) “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”

³⁶ Overhearing^[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

¹⁷ As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”^[a](A) He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life^(B) to the dead and calls^(C) into being things that were not.^(D)

¹¹ Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’^(A)