Old/New Testament

11 If people believe God, then they know they have the things they hope to get. It is the proof of things we do not see.

² There were people long ago believed God. He said they were good because they believed him.

³ We believe in God, so that is how we know that God made the world by his word. The things we see were made out of things that cannot be seen.

⁴ Because Abel believed God, he made a sacrifice that pleased God more than the one Cain made. Because Abel believed God, God showed that he was good. God was pleased with his gifts. Abel died. But because he believed God, he still speaks to us through his faith.

⁵ Because Enoch believed God, he was taken up into heaven without dying. The people could not find him because God had taken him. Before he was taken up, the holy writings say that he pleased God.

⁶ If a person does not believe God, he cannot please him. Anyone who comes to God must believe that God is real. And he must believe that God will bless those who try to find him. God will reward a person, if he really tries to find God.

⁷ God told Noah about things that would happen. These things had never happened before. Noah believed God; he respected God. He built a big house on a boat, and so his family was saved [from the big flood]. By believing God he showed that the other people were wrong. He was put right with God because he believed.

⁸ God called Abraham to go away to a place which he would have as his own. Because Abraham believed God, he obeyed him. He went even though he did not know where he was to go.

⁹ Because he believed God, he lived like a stranger in the land God promised him. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob. They had the same promise he had.

¹⁰ Abraham was looking for a city which will last for ever. It was the city God planned and made.

¹¹ Sarah also believed God, and she was able to have a baby even though she was too old to have children. But she trusted God to do what he had promised.

¹² Abraham was too old to be a father, but a great nation was born from that one man. They are as many as the stars in the sky and as the sands on the seaside. No man can count them.

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.