Book of Common Prayer

¹³ These people all died still believing God. They did not get the things God had promised them. But they saw them far away and were glad to see them. They said they did not belong to this world, but were only travelling in it.

¹⁴ People who say such things mean they are looking for a country which will be their own.

¹⁵ If they had wanted the country they left behind, they could have gone back to it.

¹⁶ But now they want a better country. They want a place in heaven. That is why God wants to be called their God. He has made a city ready for them.

¹⁷ Abraham believed God when he was tested. The test was to give Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham gave up his only son, even though God had made a promise to him about Isaac.

¹⁸ God had said to Abraham, `Isaac's children will be called your family.'

¹⁹ Abraham said in his heart that God could bring Isaac back to life. And so it was just as if he did get his son back.

²⁰ Isaac believed God. He gave Jacob and Esau blessings that were to come.

²¹ Jacob believed God. When he was dying, he blessed Joseph's two sons. He leaned on his walking stick as he worshipped God.

²² Joseph believed God. When he died, he remembered God's promise and talked about the time the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He told them what to do with his bones when they left Egypt.

⁴¹ The leaders of the Jews did not like Jesus to say, `I am the bread that has come down from heaven.'

⁴² They said, `Is he not Joseph's son, Jesus? We know his father and mother. How can he say, "I have come down from heaven"?'

⁴³ Jesus answered them, `There is no need for you to talk against me to each other.

⁴⁴ No one can come to me if my Father does not draw him. He sent me. I myself will raise up the one who comes to me. I will bring him back to life on the last day.

⁴⁵ The prophets wrote, "God will teach all people." So then, every person who listens to his words and learns what he says, he will come to me.

⁴⁶ `But no person has seen my Father. The only one who has seen him is the one who comes from God. He has seen my Father.

⁴⁷ I tell you the truth. The person who believes in me will live for ever.

⁴⁸ I am the bread that gives life.

⁴⁹ Your fathers ate bread in the desert long ago, but they died.

⁵⁰ Here is bread that comes down from heaven. The person who eats this bread will never die.

⁵¹ I am the bread that gives life. I came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. I will give bread so that the world may live. I am that bread.'