Atlas Biblica

    Hebrews · 40 verses

    Hebrews 11

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    Abel is dead and still speaking; then, after parading an astonishing crowd of faithful people before us, the writer suddenly discovers that time is short.

    The unseen countryvv. 1–16

    Faith is introduced as confidence in what is hoped for and certainty about what cannot be seen—a splendidly practical arrangement for discussing the invisible. Abel’s offering speaks after Abel has died; Enoch is taken away without seeing death; Noah builds an ark for dangers not yet visible. Abraham goes without knowing where he is going, Sarah receives strength to conceive, and the household lives in tents while looking towards a city whose architect and builder is God. They die without receiving the promised things, having greeted them from a distance and confessed themselves strangers and exiles on the earth. The old country remains available for a return, but the longing is for a better one.

    Heirs, parents, and wallsvv. 17–31

    Abraham’s faith reaches its most alarming domestic scene when he offers Isaac, reasoning that God could raise the dead; in a sense, Isaac is received back from death before the story has quite finished frightening everyone. Isaac blesses Jacob and Esau about the future, Jacob worships while leaning on his staff, and Joseph gives instructions about bones and an exodus still to come. Moses’ parents hide him, Moses refuses Pharaoh’s household, leaves Egypt, keeps the Passover, and walks through the chapter’s grandest piece of wet geography: the people cross the Red Sea on dry land, while the Egyptians attempt the same shortcut and are drowned. Jericho’s walls then fall after seven days of marching, and Rahab survives because she welcomed the spies in peace.

    A roll-call cut shortvv. 32–40

    The catalogue now threatens to become a book of its own. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets are named, and then the sentence rushes through kingdoms conquered, justice administered, lions silenced, fire quenched, swords escaped, weakness strengthened, and foreign armies put to flight. Women receive back their dead; others refuse release under torture in hope of a better resurrection. The faithful are mocked, flogged, chained, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, killed by the sword, and reduced to sheepskins, goatskins, deserts, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground. The world, with all its confidence, is pronounced unworthy of them. Yet the promised thing remains outstanding, and the ending leaves the earlier and later faithful waiting together for something better.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Heb 11:1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

    2. Heb 11:2This is why the ancients were commended.

    3. Heb 11:3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

    4. Heb 11:4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

    5. Heb 11:5By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.

    6. Heb 11:6And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

    7. Heb 11:7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

    8. Heb 11:8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.

    9. Heb 11:9By faith he dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

    10. Heb 11:10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

    11. Heb 11:11By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.

    12. Heb 11:12And so from one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

    13. Heb 11:13All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

    14. Heb 11:14Now those who say such things show that they are seeking a country of their own.

    15. Heb 11:15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

    16. Heb 11:16Instead, they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

    17. Heb 11:17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,

    18. Heb 11:18even though God had said to him, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

    19. Heb 11:19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a sense, he did receive Isaac back from death.

    20. Heb 11:20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

    21. Heb 11:21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

    22. Heb 11:22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his bones.

    23. Heb 11:23By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after his birth, because they saw that he was a beautiful child, and they were unafraid of the king’s edict.

    24. Heb 11:24By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

    25. Heb 11:25He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.

    26. Heb 11:26He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

    27. Heb 11:27By faith Moses left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who is invisible.

    28. Heb 11:28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

    29. Heb 11:29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

    30. Heb 11:30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

    31. Heb 11:31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.

    32. Heb 11:32And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,

    33. Heb 11:33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions,

    34. Heb 11:34quenched the raging fire, and escaped the edge of the sword; who gained strength from weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

    35. Heb 11:35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

    36. Heb 11:36Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

    37. Heb 11:37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

    38. Heb 11:38The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

    39. Heb 11:39These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

    40. Heb 11:40God had planned something better for us, so that together with us they would be made perfect.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 653 passages were voted onto 40 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 12 Corinthians 5:7For we walk by faith, not by sight.
    • 12 Corinthians 4:18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
    • 6Proverbs 8:17I love those who love me, and those who seek me early shall find me.
    • 1Romans 8:24–25For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
    • 6Jeremiah 29:13–14You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
    • 6Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
    • 1Hebrews 11:7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
    • 1Hebrews 10:22let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
    • 11 Peter 1:7–8so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
    • 6Psalms 105:3–4Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
    • 61 Chronicles 28:9As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
    • 1Psalms 27:13Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
    • 6Luke 12:31But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added unto you.
    • 6Psalms 119:10With all my heart I have sought You; do not let me stray from Your commandments.
    • 11 Corinthians 13:13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
    • 1Galatians 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. What matters is faith expressing itself through love.

    Onward

    Keep reading

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