Part 9

011:011 Through faith even Sarah herself received strength to become a mother--although she was past the time of life for this-- because she judged Him faithful who had given the promise.

011:012 And thus there sprang from one man, and him practically dead, a nation like the stars of the sky in number, and like the sands on the sea shore which cannot be counted.

011:013 All these died in the possession of faith. They had not received the promised blessings, but had seen them from a distance and had greeted them, and had acknowledged themselves to be foreigners and strangers here on earth;

011:014 for men who acknowledge this make it manifest that they are seeking elsewhere a country of their own.

011:015 And if they had cherished the remembrance of the country they had left, they would have found an opportunity to return;

011:016 but, as it is, we see them eager for a better land, that is to say, a heavenly one. For this reason God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has now prepared a city for them.

011:017 Through faith Abraham, as soon as God put him to the test, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had joyfully welcomed the promises was on the point of sacrificing his only son

011:018 with regard to whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that your posterity shall be traced."

011:019 For he reckoned that God is even able to raise a man up from among the dead, and, figuratively speaking, it was from among the dead that he received Isaac again.

011:020 Through faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, even in connexion with things soon to come.

011:021 Through faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and, leaning on the top of his staff, worshipped God.

011:022 Through faith Joseph, when he was near his end, made mention of the departure of the descendants of Israel, and gave orders about his own body.

011:023 Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw his rare beauty; and the king's edict had no terror for them.

011:024 Through faith Moses, when he grew to manhood, refused to be known as Pharaoh's daughter's son,

011:025 having determined to endure ill-treatment along with the people of God rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin;

011:026 because he deemed the reproaches which he might meet with in the service of the Christ to be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt; for he fixed his gaze on the coming reward.

011:027 Through faith he left Egypt, not being frightened by the king's anger; for he held on his course as seeing the unseen One.

011:028 Through faith he instituted the Passover, and the sprinkling with blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites.

011:029 Through faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing over dry land, but the Egyptians, when they tried to do the same, were swallowed up.

011:030 Through faith the walls of Jericho fell to the ground after being surrounded for seven days.

011:031 Through faith the notorious sinner Rahab did not perish along with the disobedient, for she had welcomed the spies and had sheltered them.

011:032 And why need I say more? For time will fail me if I tell the story of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, and of David and Samuel and the Prophets;

011:033 men who, as the result of faith, conquered whole kingdoms, brought about true justice, obtained promises from God, stopped lions' mouths,

011:034 deprived fire of its power, escaped being killed by the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put to flight foreign armies.

011:035 Women received back their dear ones alive from the dead; and others were put to death with torture, refusing the deliverance offered to them--that they might secure a better resurrection.

011:036 Others again were tested by cruel mockery and by scourging; yes, and by chains and imprisonment.

011:037 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty.

011:038 (They were men of whom the world was not worthy.) They wandered across deserts and mountains, or hid themselves in caves and in holes in the ground.