Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Faith and the future: the great crowd

³² What more can I say, then? I’ve run out of time to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. ³³ It was through faith that they overcame kingdoms, put justice into practice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were strong where they had been weak, became powerful in battle, and sent foreign armies packing. ³⁵ Women received their dead by resurrection; others were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might receive a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others again experienced painful derision and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment; ³⁷ they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were put to the sword, they went about in sheepskins or goat-hides, they were destitute, they were persecuted, they were ill-treated— ³⁸ the world didn’t deserve them!—and they wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹ All these people gained a reputation for their faith; but they didn’t receive the promise. ⁴⁰ God was providing something better for us, so that they wouldn’t reach perfection without our doing so as well.