Faith: what it is and what it does
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📚✭Now faith is the assurance✭ of things which are to be hoped, the conviction✭ of things not seen.2 📚For by it the forefathers✭ obtained a good commendation.
3 📚✭Through faith we understand that the worlds were created by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
4 📚✭By faith Abel✭ offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain did. By it he obtained a testimony that he was righteous✭, God testifying of his offerings. And by it, though he is dead, he still speaks.
5 📚✭By faith Enoch was taken away so he would not experience death. He was not found, because God had taken him away. For before his being taken away he had the testimony that he pleased God.
6 📚But without faith it is impossible to please him,✭ for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him✭.
7 📚✭By faith Noah, being warned of God about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear✭, prepared an ark to save his household✭. By it he condemned the world✭, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith✭.
8 📚✭✭By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go to a place that he would afterwards receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going.
9 📚✭By faith he lived in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. 10 📚For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11 📚✭Through faith Sara also received strength to become pregnant, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she considered the one who had promised faithful. 12 📚Therefore from just one man, and him as good as dead, came offspring as many as the multitude of the stars of the sky, as innumerable as the sand at the sea shore.
13 📚✭These all died in faith, not having received the things promised. But they saw them far off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims✭ on the earth. 14 📚For they who say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 📚And certainly, if they had been thinking of that country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 📚But they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 📚✭By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 📚of whom it was said, “In Isaac will your descendants be called”. 19 📚Abraham took into account that God was able to raise him even from the dead. And he received him back from there, figuratively speaking.
20 📚✭By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
21 📚By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
22 📚✭By faith Joseph, when he was about to die, mentioned the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
23 📚✭By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was an exceptional child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.
24 📚✭By faith Moses, after he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 📚He chose to suffer ill-treatment with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, 26 📚considering reproach for Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he had fixed his eyes on the giving of the reward.
27 📚By faith he left Egypt, not fearing✭ the anger of the king. And he patiently endured, as though he saw him who is invisible.
28 📚✭Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them.
29 📚✭By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. The Egyptians, trying to do this, were drowned.
30 📚✭By faith the walls of Jericho collapsed, after they were encircled for seven days.
31 📚✭By faith the prostitute Rahab did not perish with those who refused to believe✭, since she had peacefully received the spies.
32 📚✭And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, and David, and Samuel, and the prophets, 33 📚✭who through faith subdued kingdoms✭, worked righteousness, obtained promises✭, stopped the mouths of lions✭, 34 📚quenched the violence of fire✭, escaped the edge of the sword✭, became strong✭ in weakness, became valiant in battle, and put to flight foreign armies.
35 📚Women received back their dead✭, raised to life again. And others were tortured, refusing deliverance✭, that they might gain a better resurrection✭. 36 📚And others experienced trials of cruel mockings and beatings, yes, and bonds and imprisonment✭. 37 📚They underwent stoning✭, they were sawed in two✭, were tempted✭, were killed with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, ill-treated, and tormented✭ 38 📚✭(of whom the world was not worthy). They wandered in deserts, and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.